


I Want The One I Can't Have

by FopMistress



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Angst, Arguing, Awkwardness, Cunnilingus, Dragons, F/M, Guilt, Half-Sibling Incest, Loss of Virginity, Lost Love, Love Potion/Spell, Magic, Masturbation, Memories, Mythology - Freeform, Nursery Rhymes, Outdoor Sex, Paganism, Psychology, Regret, Secret Relationship, Sex Magic, Weddings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-03-18
Updated: 2012-05-21
Packaged: 2017-11-02 03:56:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 41,234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/364709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FopMistress/pseuds/FopMistress
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sherlock has woken up John in the middle of the night with his crying before but John can't ignore it this time and Sherlock finally tells John why his heart is permanently broken and will never be healed...until he gets closure with someone from his past - The One He Can't Have.</p>
<p>This is a non-judgemental musing on life, love and how sometimes destiny intervenes and you can't choose who you fall in love with, however difficult.</p>
<p>NB - the description has been altered as the story has changed from the original intention.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

John opened his eyes and lay in his bed very still, listening. Yes, that was unmistakably the sound of a man sobbing his guts out which was somehow always rawer and packed so much more emotional punch that a woman’s distress did. It wasn’t the first time he had heard Sherlock crying through the wall at night but this was making John feel worried. He would have to go to him this time. He snapped his bedside night on and yawning, grabbed his dressing gown and shuffled his feet into slippers. He really couldn’t be bothered with this at 3am but Sherlock was his best friend and flatmate.  He gently knocked on Sherlock’s bedroom door.  
  
“Sherlock, are you alright in there?”  
  
A muffled snuffle and a loud drawn out snuffly sniff.  
  
“Of course I’m alright. Now go away.”  
  
“I’m afraid I can’t do that. I need to make sure you’re okay, it’s the least you can do after waking me up. _It’s fucking 3am._ Can I come in?”  
  
“If you must.”  
  
John opened the door and Sherlock was sitting on the edge of his bed in his button through pyjamas with his head in his hands. He turned his head to John as he came in and his eyes were red raw. He had clearly been crying for quite some time before John woke up.  
  
“What’s up? Did you have a nightmare or something?”  
  
“No, nothing like that. I’m sorry I woke you up, I’m fine now.”  
  
“I don’t think you are. I’ve heard you like this before a few times, mate. You can talk to me you know.”  
  
Sherlock stared in front of him for a few moments. “Because you’re a doctor? Trust me, I can’t talk to anyone about this.”  
  
“Try me.”  
  
“No, I really can’t.”  
  
“I am a doctor and anything you say to me is confidential. I mean it. You really can’t go on like this.”  
  
“What if I said I’ve done something illegal, morally corrupt and shameful?”  
  
John blinked and thought for a moment. “This is you we’re talking about. I guess if even you think it’s bad then it’s….bad?”  
  
Sherlock rubbed his eyes and managed a watery smile.  
  
“But I don’t….to some extent anyway. But you will and Mycroft does. I‘m forbidden to ever discuss it with him ever again. Not that I‘d want to anyway but still. I suppose it‘s for my own good.”  
  
“Oh. Oh. Right. Whatever you tell me will remain in the strictest confidence, I promise you.”  
  
“I’ve got something to show you. If you’re sure, that is.”  
  
John paused then nodded.  
  
“Wait a minute.”  
  
“I could do with a cup of  tea. Want one?”  
  
“Please. John - please don’t hate me. I couldn‘t help it.”  
  
Sherlock looked up at John as he stood up and he was instantly a frightened little boy.  
  
“I won’t.”  
  
John came back about ten minutes later with a tray with cups of tea, mind churning. He was half scared about what he was going to be told but intrigued. Knowing Sherlock, it could be _anything._  
  
Sherlock took a cup and sipped, putting it on the ground. His violin case was on the bed and it was open. John saw that there was a small slit in the lining of the case he hadn’t noticed before. Sherlock delicately reached into the lining and took out a photo, very much creased round the edges. “I keep this in here for safe keeping so that no-one can find it.” He looked at John. “This is major disclosure John. NO-ONE must know about this. I feel ridiculously exposed even telling you.”  
  
John drank the tea and set the cup on the floor. “It’s fine. I’ve heard it all, pretty much.”  
  
Sherlock laughed with a bitter edge. “Oh no you haven’t. Here, look. Before I change my mind.”  
  
John took the photo from Sherlock. It was a photo of Sherlock and a young woman. He had his arms round her and was looking down at her with tenderness. The young woman was in her early twenties and was styled in an alternative way - she had long dark hair with a streak of purple and what looked like an Iron Maiden t-shirt. She also had a ring in her lower lip and a nose stud. Her green eyes were darkly lined. The young woman was snuggling into Sherlock and had her hands on Sherlock’s arm, looking almost defiantly at the camera daring the photographer to challenge her. The background in the photo appeared to be a pub.  
  
John looked again at the eyes and then a strange cold feeling washed over him. The body language and the appearance…he looked at Sherlock and then back to the photo. Oh no, it really couldn’t be. This was a whole new level of weirdness. John sat absorbing what his gut feeling was telling him.  
  
“Sherlock….I might be getting this completely wrong but this girl looks a bit like you, especially the eyes. Are you related to her?”  
  
“Yes.”  
  
“Alright. How related is related? Cousins?”  
  
“No.”  
  
“Oh shit. What then?”  
  
Sherlock looked at John and his eyes welled with tears.  
  
“This is Araminta Holmes-Mackenzie. She is my half sister.”  
  
Sherlock’s voice was a hoarse broken whisper.  
  
 “I loved her. God help me, I loved her and I always will. You must think I‘m repugnant. It was consensual, you have to know that. She loved me as much as I loved her. There was no coercion, you can‘t choose who you love and I did.”  
  
Sherlock’s tears were freely flowing and he roughly wiped them away.  
  
“You’d better tell me what happened then. I’m not judging you.”  
  
Sherlock shook his head.  
  
“Yes you are. You can’t help it. You’re thinking what a grubby little man, what a odious creep who sleeps with his half sister. I hate myself so much for this. We nearly broke each other completely.”  
  
John shook his head emphatically.  
  
“I’m shocked, of course I am. But I know you. Sometimes life isn’t that clear cut. There’s shades of grey. It’s not right but…things happen. Talk to me.”  
  
“Yes, maybe I should.”


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two  
  
2001  
  
Sherlock was sitting in a solicitors office staring at the ceiling, bored out of his skull dressed in a black suit and dark tie. Mycroft sat next to him and the small room had assorted members of the Holmes family crammed into it. A solicitor had spent the last half hour reading out Sherlock and Mycroft’s father’s will. The solicitor was nearing the end and Sherlock just wanted to get the Hell out of there and have both a cigarette and a cup of tea. He had been faintly repelled at the grasping attitudes towards his father’s estate. He hadn’t enjoyed a close relationship with the man but the lighting up of eyes and smiles as his estate was divided out made him long for his own company.   
  
The solicitor cleared his throat.  
  
“There is one more bequest to Araminta Holmes Mackenzie. Is she here?”  
  
Sherlock looked at Mycroft and Mycroft shrugged. “Who the Hell is that?” Sherlock hissed quietly. “I don’t know.” “She’s got our name though. Distant cousin?”  
  
“Aye, I’m here.”  
  
All heads turned to the back of the room. A tall gangly girl in a long black coat - possibly her one concession to the gravity of the occasion, waved. She wore a black top with a purple dragon on it, a red and black mini kilt, ripped fishnets and New Rock boots on. She was also furiously chewing gum.   
  
“We’re glad you could come, Miss Holmes-Mackenzie. I believe you a had long journey.”  
  
She rolled her heavily made up eyes and blew a gum bubble with a loud pop.   
  
“It’s Minty, if you don’t mind. Bloody poncey name, Araminta. _Jesus._ ”  
  
“As you wish. Miss Holmes-Mackenzie, in addition to your present maintenance payments of £2,000.00 per month which will continue until you finish your studies, you have been bequeathed £50,000.00.”  
  
“Fucking Hell! Thank you. _Thank you very much Daddy dearest.”_  
  
Minty’s voice dripped with sarcasm and ignored the tuts and murmurs of distaste.  
  
Right, if we’re done here. I’m off out for a fag.”  
  
Sherlock and Mycroft looked at each other and then at the tall girl heading to the door, already sticking a cigarette between purple glossed lips.  
  
“Wait!”  
  
Mycroft stood up and headed over to Minty. “Is it okay if Sherlock and I head out to speak to…Minty?”  
  
“By all means. Thank you for your time.”  
  
“We’ll just be a minute. Sherlock, come with me.”  
  
Sherlock stood up, shaking his head and headed out the office behind Mycroft.  
  
Minty had already lit up and took a long drag and blew out, leaning on the wall.   
  
“What the Hell is going on? Who are you exactly?”  
  
Sherlock stared Minty in the eyes. Minty narrowed hers.  
  
“Hello big brother. I’m your new little sister. Got a problem with that?”  
  
She blew a plume of smoke right in Sherlock’s face who didn’t flinch.  
  
Mycroft saw that the pair were going to start fighting and it probably wouldn’t be pretty.  
  
“Alright you two, stop it. Minty, I’m Mycroft.”  
  
He extended his hand to Minty who, after a second thinking of refusing it, shook it.  
  
“And this is Sherlock. He is my…our brother.”  
  
“Can I have one of those please?”  
  
Minty handed Sherlock a cigarette and he lit up, inhaling deeply.   
  
“I guess no-one told you about me?”  
  
“Evidently not. How exactly….how on earth did all this come about?”  
  
“Well, when a Mummy and Daddy love each very much, they lie down and have a special cuddle….”  
  
Sherlock chipped in.  
  
“Minty, stop trying to be funny. Mycroft is just asking questions. We’ve got every right to know who the Hell you are and why you‘ve just got £50,000.00 out of our father.”  
  
“Well, 21 years ago our Dad went to Edinburgh for a conference at Edinburgh University and my Mum still is a lecturer there in the History faculty. I think they got on  a bit too well and I am the result. Mum told him and he has been paying maintenance for me. I know he was married to your Mum at the time when it happened and I only met him a few times, if he happened to be in Edinburgh. I didn’t want to intrude by coming to the funeral but your solicitor contacted Mum and asked if I would come down. I’m sorry if I was rude before. I have Bipolar Disorder and sometimes I say stupid stuff. I’m not a loony though. I am set to get a First in Fine Art and I have an IQ of 154. I’m deemed high functioning.”   
  
“You’ve got a high opinion of yourself” Sherlock snapped.  
  
Minty smirked. “And why shouldn’t I brother dear? _It’s all true._ ”  
  
“So is Sherlock, as it happens.”  
  
“MYCROFT! We barely know her and she doesn‘t need to know my private business.”  
  
“Sherlock is a high functioning sociopath. Maybe it runs in the family. You‘re both equally rude and irascible.”  
  
Sherlock stubbed out his cigarette on the ground and assessed Minty. She was nearly as tall as he was, even taking into account her ridiculous leather and metal boots with a sole about three inches thick. Her long thick hair was the same colour as Mycroft’s and although her face was softer in contour, she also had high cheekbones and his eyes. Her small nose and full mouth were her mother’s he supposed. She was undeniably part Holmes. She was laughing at what Mycroft had said and her eyes sparkled with mischief.  
  
He couldn’t help but watch her. She really was beautiful.  
  



	3. Chapter 3

Chapter three  
  
“So you had no idea about her whatsoever, Sherlock?  
  
“Absolutely not. We were both shocked at the idea of Father having an affair to be honest. It just wasn’t like him. I’m not saying he wasn’t capable of it, it was just a bolt out of the blue. I’m not even sure if he told Mother but if he did, I know she would have swept it under the carpet and looked the other way. Not done to make a fuss you see.”  
  
“Can I ask if anything triggered off you getting upset tonight?”  
  
John wished immediately he hadn’t asked as tears rolled down his face again.  
  
“Mycroft called to say that Minty is getting married to some artist she met in Edinburgh, called Alan Winters. I had no idea she was even engaged, John. The wedding is in August and naturally I’m not invited. Mycroft says he will go to represent the Holmes side of the family.”  
  
Sherlock broke down completely. John gently set the photo to one side so that it wouldn’t be crumpled and awkwardly put his arm round Sherlock’s shoulder. John felt him tensing for a moment as he continued to sob.  
  
“I would have married her if I could‘ve, John. I’m deadly serious. Did you know that in ancient Egypt the pharaohs married their sisters as no-one else was considered great enough to be their Queen?  That’s how I feel about her. No-one else will ever be good enough to be my wife…oh GOD. I can’t bear the idea of this Alan pawing at her for the rest of her life. She was so beautiful naked.”  
  
Sherlock whispered the last sentence reverently and John rubbed his eyes. They were starting to sting with fatigue but he would sit there with Sherlock as long as he had to.  
  
“Sherlock, is talking helping you any, mate?”  
  
Sherlock wiped his eyes and let out a long shuddering sigh.  
  
“Perhaps it is. I’ve been carrying this pain around with me for so long, like a dull ache and I just thought I would carry on with my career and that would fill the gaping wound and normally it does. I normally do not need relationships. But Minty was different. She understood me and I understood her.”  
  
Sherlock took the photo and looked at it.  
  
 _“We were each other.”_  
  
2001  
  
  
“Well, I’ll see you guys around? I’d better head off to my hotel. Nice meeting you both.”  
  
Minty picked up her Iron Maiden bag and slung it over her shoulder and walked off.  
  
Mycroft and Sherlock looked at each other and shrugged.  
  
“Minty, don’t go. Where are you staying?”  
  
“At the Travelodge at Covent Garden. It’s cheap and it’s not too shabby actually. It does me.”  
  
“Minty, we’re your family. You should really come and stay with us. You’d be welcome.”  
  
Minty looked at the pair of them. Sherlock was looking at his feet.  
  
“That’s nice and all that but I barely know you. I’ll be fine, honestly.”  
  
Sherlock spoke up.  
  
“At least let us buy you dinner. We can chat and you can decide if you think we’re a pair of losers and if you want to be our sister or not?”  
  
“What Sherlock means is that Mycroft will buy the dinner and Sherlock will eat hardly anything, but you’d be welcome to join us.”  
  
Minty laughed. “Yeah, why not. As long as it’s vegetarian. I do like my grub, Mum says I’ve got hollow legs.”  
  
Sherlock tried not to show that he wanted to grab Minty and whirl her around. He felt drawn to her in a way he really couldn’t explain and wanted nothing more than to just be with her.  
  
“There’s a Pizza Express 5 minutes away?”  
  
“Sound.”  
  
Sherlock quietly observed her as they set off. Her walk was graceful and she held herself almost like a dancer. She was trying to watch everything that was all around her all at once and he approved, being a Forensics graduate who had gained a First himself. Detail was everything.  
  
“I’ve never been to London before. This is really cool. So much going on!”  
  
“Really? When do you have to go back to Edinburgh?”  
  
“I’m on the 2pm train from King’s Cross tomorrow. I thought I would have a wee look at the Art Gallery at Trafalgar Square and maybe head off to Camden Market, it’s apparently got loads of cool clothes to buy, maybe Covent Garden, I’m not sure.”  
  
“I’m not doing anything tomorrow. I could meet you if you wanted some company?”  
  
Minty turned to him and chewed her gum hard.  
  
“I’ve been a complete brat and you’ve given as good as you’ve got. Why are you being all matey-matey now? Don’t do me any favours.”

  
“I’m not. I don’t do anyone favours, especially little Scottish brats. But we should at least give each other a chance?”  
  
“Alright, you’re on. I can make sure you’re not a total English c**t.”  
  
Minty disarmed him completely by serving her potty-mouthed ripose with a sweet, sincere smile.  
  
In Pizza Express they all sat down and Minty shrugged off her coat onto the seat. Sherlock noticed the tattoo on her right arm.  
  
“Minty, that’s a stunning tattoo. I normally think they look terrible but that’s beautiful.”  
  
“I agree.” said Mycroft. “It actually suits you.”  
  
“I drew it myself or rather I did the design and then gave it to the artist to draw up. It hurt like fuck but I love dragons to pieces. It’s my familiar and protector. I specialise in fantasy art and I already do commissions. I guess this is my best advert.”  
  
She reached to reasuringly stroke the dragon which was green and belched fire. Below it was Araminta in graceful flowing script.  
  
A waitress came over and they ordered drinks. Sherlock wanted to stroke that dragon gently and this bothered him.  
  
“That’s actually quite a sensible thing to get into, if you think about it. I can imagine that the fantasy genre in publishing is expanding what with Harry Potter being so popular” said Mycroft.  
  
“Yep. I just love myth and magic though. And I hope to go professional once I graduate, I think I’ll be able to. To be fair, this money I’ve been left will be an enormous help. I’ll be able to finally afford a computer and an internet connection, maybe a mobile phone too and it’ll tide me over until I get up and running.”  
  
“Do you live with your Mum or do you have your own flat?”  
  
“I stayed with Mum until last year. I wanted more space so I could put my canvases and art stuff wherever I wanted and Mum’s flat isn’t really that big. I’ve got a wee one bedroom flat in the Southside of Edinburgh and it’s walking distance from the College of Art. My bedroom is really big and has the best light so that’s my studio and I sleep on a sofa bed in the living room.”  
  
“Minty, why do you have Araminta on your arm if you don’t like your name?”  
  
Sherlock had been quietly sipping his English Breakfast tea and flicking covert glances at her. She was witty, clever, smart as a whip and although alternative girls normally faintly repelled him as he thought tattoos and piercing were vulgar, on Minty they were utterly right and only enhanced her individuality.  
  
“You’re right, it’s a fucking poncey name but I wanted to make it be beautiful. You’ve no idea what trouble having a stupid first name and double barrelled name caused if you went to Tynecastle High.”  
  
“I can imagine.”  
  
Minty raised her eyebrow at Mycroft.  
  
“Aye right then posh boy. I’ll believe that. I’ve been called Polo Mints, Murray Mints, Colgate Toothpaste…GOD. School was shit. They thought I had ADHD when in fact I was bored out of my skull most of the time. I thought everyone else was thick as mince compared to me frankly. And incidentally it was our Daddy who gave me the stupid name.”  
  
Sherlock had been listening to Minty and was feeling uncomfortable by how much she enthralled him. Was it because she also didn’t care what people thought of her? Her spirit? Her verve? Her…undeniable beauty. God, she was beautiful. But she was his half-sister. That wasn’t right. Their pizzas came and Minty tore into her food, explaining that she had no lunch. Sherlock barely touched his, being more interested in listening to Minty speak and watching her eat.  
  
“Are you not hungry Sherlock? Is your pizza not nice?”  
  
“Not particularly. The pizza is so-so. I’m fine.”  
  
“You can have some of mine. Here.”  
  
She cut off a large piece of her mushroom pizza and leaned over the table with it on her fork. He could see right down her top and wanted to whimper. He took it and bit it.  
  
Minty sat back but not before Sherlock felt her boot nudging his shoe. She smiled a knowing smile at him.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4  
  
 **2001**  
  
  
“Hey!”  
  
Minty waved to Sherlock as she got out of the lift at the Travelodge and bounded over him. She dropped her bag and suddenly flung her arms around him, giving him a squeeze. Sherlock froze momentarily, not used to close physical contact then hugged her back. He dipped his head so he could nuzzle her hair a little. She smelled of patchouli.  
  
Minty looked up at him with laughing eyes. “Are you ready to be my personal travel guide, then? Are you sure you know what you’ve let yourself in for?”  
  
Sherlock had hardly slept the night before for thinking about it. “I’m looking forward to it. I’ve never had a little sister to boss me about before.”  
  
“Great. I’ll just be a minute, I’ll go and check out.”  
  
He watched her at the reception desk and yawned. He really was tired as his mind had been churning like a washing machine on full spin. He hadn’t known about Minty’s existence yesterday morning and now this fascinating girl who was half related to him had completely captured his imagination and had stirred up thoughts that excited, frightened and beguiled him all at once.  
  
“"Lay on, Macduff, And damn'd be him that first cries, Hold, enough." Minty dimpled up at him. “The Scottish Play. Let’s go.”  
  
“Where do you want to go first?”  
  
“The National Gallery of course. It’s ten now so we don’t have that much time to see it but I’m desperate to at least see Van Gogh.”  
  
They walked to the National Gallery, Minty talking non stop and Sherlock struggling to keep up with her as she fired questions at him. Work? No, he kept being fired from jobs for being a “non team player” and “being argumentative.” “Being too good at my job and simply more intelligent than my managers” Sherlock huffed and Minty nodded sympathetically. “But I’m thinking of going freelance anyway so I’ll be able to pick and choose who I work for and what I do.”  Girlfriends? Sherlock didn’t know what to say. His first instinct was to say “I adore you, please be mine” but he suppressed it, thoroughly alarmed, and said “Normal girls are airheads and insufferably boring. No thank you.” “I totally get that. You can’t shag a guy if you think they’re fucking stupid. It shows you have no self respect and there‘s no point if you can‘t talk to him intelligently afterwards.” Sherlock laughed. This pleased him. She pleased him. She was still dressed in her little kilt, long coat and boots but also wore an oversized Rammstein t-shirt (Sherlock made a mental note to find out about this band later).    
  
Inside the gallery Minty was like a little girl on Christmas day and hardly knew what to look at first. She darted from painting to painting, room to room, peering, standing back, thinking, gesticulating, wondering. “If I lived in London I’d be here at least once a week. We have the something similar in Edinburgh but it’s so much smaller. Van Gogh, I need to see him, He’s my friend.” She tugged on Sherlock’s hand and he let himself be led off. Minty slowed down and her manner changed as soon as she saw the priceless works on display. She became reverent and hushed as she walked round. “Look at the colours and the brushstrokes, the technique is wonderful. You can feel the pain in his paint, his desperation. It’s so overwhelming.”  
  
Minty’s eyes glittered with tears and she swiped them away.  
  
“He was apparently a manic depressive too. He had all these visions in his head and he couldn’t cope. I feel like that, like I’m got too much mind for my skull and I’ve got all this stuff, all this art I want to paint all at once. I would’ve tried to be his friend, I would’ve helped him because I understand so much. I wish I could turn down the contrast button on life because everything jumps out at me all of the time.”  
  
Minty’s tears were freely falling now. Sherlock really didn’t know what to do with a crying girl surrounded by her all time favourite artist.  
  
“I want a cuddle.” Minty said forlornly.  
  
He folded her into his embrace and kissed the top of her head and allowed her to calm down. She fit in his arms so perfectly and felt delicate and strong all at once. He closed his eyes.  
  
“Are you alright, sweetheart?” He murmured and brushed her tear tracks away.  
  
“Uh-huh. I’m really sorry. I feel things really deeply and this is so great but it’s just brought a lot of things up I think. You must think I’m a right soppy fucker.”  
  
“It’s fine. If it’s any comfort, I feel like you do, like I’ve got too much mind for my skull.”  
  
“You do?”  
  
“Yes. I’ve never told anyone that before either.”  
  
“I’m privileged.”  
  
“You are, Minty. You really are. Listen, it’s 11.30. I say we go to Camden Market now, have a look there and then think about getting you back to King’s Cross. We can grab a sandwich somewhere.”  
  
Minty almost immediately barrelled into an alternative clothes shop as soon as they headed out of the tube station. She had spotted a pair of black trousers with buckles and zips all over them and declared they were just what she was after. “I’ve got such long  legs that I have to try everything on to make sure they fit” she apologised as she picked them off the rack and headed into the back of the shop, pausing to ask the bored Goth assistant if she could try them on. The store was tiny and full of the type of weird and wonderful black clothing that Sherlock felt alienated by but knew would look perfect on Minty. She disappeared behind a red velvet curtain. “Sherlock, would you mind standing so that no-one comes in?”  
  
“Fine, no problem.”  
  
The curtain wasn’t quite pulled shut and he could see in and looked away then looked back, not being able to help himself. Her boots were lying on the floor along with her bag and coat and she was shimmying out of her kilt, bending to pick the trousers up. He looked away. Oh Jesus. He then saw her drawing the trousers up her long, shapely legs in her fishnets and up and up…a glimpse of black pants…and then he felt himself harden, sweating with mixed lust and pure fear.  
  
He should NOT feel like this.  
  
“Minty, I’m just going out for some fresh air.”  
  
“Okay, I’ll just be a minute.”  
  
He swept out of the shop and leaned against the front of the shop, breathing hard, heart racing and  feeling slightly nauseous. He was disgusted with himself but also batted away the thoughts that had been plaguing him since yesterday - that he was deeply attracted to his half-sister. He sighed. There was no point. He was.  
  
  
  
“I guess that’s my train ready now then.”  
  
Minty took both his hands and looked at him intensely.  
  
“I don’t want to go. I feel like I’ve known you forever. Please call me or write or whatever you want to do. I’ve had a bloody great time. Say thank you to Mycroft too.”  
  
Sherlock accepted her hug readily this time and committed it to memory so that he could pore over it later when he knew he would miss her.  
  
“I promise, Minty. Call me when you get home.”  
  
Minty tore herself away and leaned up to kiss his cheek. “I’d better go. Bye! Phone me!”  
  
He waved as she ran off, turning to blow him a kiss.  
  
As soon as Sherlock got home he threw himself on his bed, undoing his jeans and started to guilty and furiously masturbate, deriving no actual pleasure from it whatsoever and using it purely as a release. He then started to cry and didn’t stop for 10 minutes, wretched, confused, disgusted and then this turned to unease.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5  
  
  
“I kept letters from her, John. Mycroft thinks I got rid of them but I just couldn’t bear to part with them. Do you want to see them?”  
  
“I’m fine with that but don’t you think they’re too private?”  
  
“No, it’s alright. I’m relieved to be speaking about this. Thank you for not judging me.”  
  
“You’re human Sherlock. I’m not going to condemn you for that. Plus this proves you’re not a Cyborg for something. You do actually have feelings.”  
  
Sherlock laughed. “Minty made me realise that I was mortal after all. Don’t get me wrong, I had girls at Uni that were clearly interested in me and I had quite  a few propositions and not just from girls, a few from boys. But I felt nothing for them whatsoever. I even got drunk a few times and tried kissing girls and apart from getting an erection, I just didn’t feel sufficiently engaged with them to take it any further. I was vastly more interested in spending my time in the library or in the lab. It was rather strange to be in this environment where students were getting drunk, openly getting off with each other and being somehow proud of it. I found it all extremely distasteful. Get up John, I need to get under my mattress.”  
  
They stood up and Sherlock threw back his sheets and gestured for John to lift the mattress up. Sherlock pulled out a large pile of letters and pictures bound with a black ribbon. He unbound the ribbon and delicately leafed through the pile until he found a small pencil drawing and a letter. He handed the drawing to John who whistled. It was a caricature of a dragon looking into a microscope and it was obviously meant to be Sherlock as the dragon looked very grumpy and had large almond shaped green eyes.  
  
“Jesus, that’s bloody terrific. She really is talented.”  
  
“She is, isn’t she? Here’s the letter she wrote with it.”  
                                  
 _Dear Sherlock  
  
I have ripped up this letter up three times because I thought you would think I was a psycho if you read it but I knew that you would at least read it and give it the time of day even if you were shocked by it. I have enclosed a wee drawing I did tonight when I was waiting for my pizza to cook. It’s meant to be you and I do hope you like it.   
  
It’s been 6 months since I first met you now and I feel that I can’t be without you in my life. The first minute I saw you I was drawn to you and couldn’t understand why. I think that’s why I acted so cattily because I felt really confused by it all. You were just some bloke that happened to be my new half brother. I just wanted to hug you all the time in London and it scared me. I don’t normally feel like that as I don’t really like people invading my personal space. But you’re different. I think it might be because we’re so alike in some ways and we’ve just clicked. When we said goodbye at the station I wanted badly to kiss you properly, not just a peck on the cheek. I want to sit on your knee, I want to sleep with you, I want you to be there when I wake up, I want us to go for a walk up Arthur’s Seat,  I want to have a drink with you, I want us to walk along The Royal Mile with chips and chip sauce (you have to have chips and Edinburgh chip sauce, it‘s awesome). And incidentally on the topic of sleeping together, I’m a virgin. But I want you to be my first. I know we’d be great and I fancy you so bloody much. I know that’s all sorts of shades of wrong but I am past caring figuring out what’s right and what’s wrong. I’ve cried so much over this and I just want you.   
  
I understand if you never want to speak to me again but I have to say this. We’ve had some great long chats on the phone and I really look forward to when you call me. When you text me to say you can’t speak to me for whatever reason I miss it. I think I pine after you or something. Remember I asked you to send me a photo? I keep that under my pillow. It makes me feel closer to you.   
  
I don’t understand this and I’m frightened because you’re my half brother but I’m going to say it. I know you asked me what was wrong the other night but I was  trying to work up the courage to tell you that I’m in love with you. And I don’t mean like a brother-sister thing. I can’t stop thinking about you and I’m desperate to see you again. If you’re not totally freaked out by me, please come up to stay soon? I did hope that this would die down if there was over 300 miles between us but it hasn’t. I’ve really thought about this and it’s not incest really is it? We weren’t brought up together or anything.  
  
I’m going to sign off now. I feel sick and scared even putting this down on paper but it’s been killing me. I completely understand if I never hear from you again. But I hope I do. I hope you like the picture at least.  
  
I love you Sherlock.  
  
Minty_  
  
2001  
  
Sherlock read the letter in his bedroom and then re-read it. He put the letter down beside him and sobbed with relief. He didn’t have to pretend that she was his darling little sister…well not just. She felt the same way. Oh thank God. He took a deep shuddering breath. No - what was he thinking? Jesus, this was going to cause all sorts of problems. Sherlock stared into space, going alternately hot and cold. She was right. They hadn’t been brought up together so maybe it was just like they were unrelated. After all, cousins could marry, couldn’t they? He wanted to dance round the room but at the same time felt awful. But…she loved him. SHE LOVED HIM. He would worry about the technical details later. _This delicious girl who was utterly perfect loved him._  
  
He grabbed his mobile.  
  
 **MINTY I NEED TO SPEAK TO YOU URGENTLY SH  
  
I’M IN A TUTORIAL MINTY XX  
  
IT CAN’T WAIT. HOW LONG WILL YOU BE SH  
  
TEN MINUTES MINTY XX  
  
AS SOON AS YOU GET OUT CAN YOU PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU’RE ALONE AND CALL ME WILL CALL YOU STRAIGHT BACK TO SAVE YOUR CALLING CREDIT SH  
  
ALRIGHT ARE YOU MAD AT ME MINTY XX  
  
Of COURSE NOT I GOT YOUR LETTER SH  
  
OH SHIT MINTY XX  
  
JUST CALL ME I CAN’T DO IT LIKE THIS IT’S SILLY SH  
  
OKAY MINTY XX**  
  
Twenty minutes of delicious agony and Minty called him.  
  
“I’m walking through the Meadows, I’m by myself. I’m on my way home now.”  
  
“Minty, I got your letter. Oh God, I love you too. Thank God. I’ve been going out of my mind sweetheart. Minty, don’t cry, please don’t get upset. It’s alright.”  
  
“But how can it be? I mean…you know…this isn’t even supposed to happen. It’s seven colours of weird with varnish on top. I’ve been so worried. I’ve even been throwing up with nerves.”  
  
Sherlock could hear her calming down. Her sobbing was abating and her breathing was less rapid.   
  
“We’ll just have to make it alright. I don’t know how but we can do this. We’re going to have to be so secretive, you do realise that don’t you? No-one can know.”  
  
“I do know that. Why aren’t you here with me right now? We should be snogging each other’s faces off or something!”  
  
Sherlock laughed and couldn’t stop laughing. He felt lighter, happier, freer.  
  
“I’m going to come and see you as soon as I can. Help me think of an excuse.”  
  
“I’m on it. I want you to come and stay in my wee flat. I’ve got a sofa bed and a futon in the studio. I’ll tell Mum you’re on the futon but you’ll be in bed with me.”  
  
“Minty, don’t. I’m going to be blunt but I’m going hard just thinking about it. I want to be alone with you so badly.”  
  
“Wait, I’m sitting down on a bench now. Right, comfy.”  
  
“Are you alright with me being a virgin? I’ve never done it before.”  
  
“Don’t laugh. So am I.”  
  
“NO WAY! I thought you’d have girls crawling all over you at Uni and stuff?”  
  
“They tried to, believe me. But no, I haven’t slept with anyone. Minty…I don’t want to scare you but we will have to be extra careful when we do have sex. Do you understand what I’m saying? You can’t possibly get pregnant.”  
  
“I’ll make an appointment with the doctors today. I’ll ask to go on the Pill.”  
  
“I’ll wear a condom too, just to make sure.”  
  
Minty giggled.  
  
“Shall we wear welly boots and sou’westers as well just to make sure as well then?”  
  
“No, I just want to feel and see your beautiful skin. I’ve imagined you so many times, you’ve got no idea. Do you know the first time we met I was desperate to stroke your tattoo? And now we can. I also just want to do things with you. What on earth is chip sauce incidentally?”  
  
“Oh it’s bloody lovely. It’s really watered down brown sauce and it’s lush. You put it all over your chips. You can only get it here apparently. You can come and see my paintings too. I’m so excited. Nervous excited but excited. Yay.”  
  
“Sherlock?”  
  
“Sweetheart?”  
  
“I really need to pee. I’ve been nervous as Hell. I have to go.”  
  
“I’ll phone you tonight, as usual. Text me when you’re in bed and I’ll call you then. I’ll pretend I’m there with you.”  
  
“Wow. I love you. I like saying that.”  
  
“I like hearing it. Speak to you later.”  
  
“You hang up.”  
  
“No you.”  
  
“Wait - you didn’t tell me what you thought of your picture.”  
  
“Do I really look that cross?”  
  
“Yep. But you make a cute dragon.”  
  
“I loved it, you’re so talented. Now go before you wet yourself.”  
  
“Love you, bye.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have taken Sherlock's parents names, Siger and Violet, from Wikipedia and these are not my own invention.

Chapter 6  
  
“And here’s what she sent me before I came up to Edinburgh for the first time.”  
  
Sherlock tugged out a sheet of paper and handed it to John. It was a stylised portrait of herself as a religious figure, dressed in a purple gown with light radiating from her head. One hand was resting on Sherlock’s head in a blessing and Sherlock was sitting on  a mound of skulls with his arms wrapped round her legs, bowing his head, grimacing in pain. Under this was written **I WIIL MAKE YOU HURT.** Her other hand held an anatomically realistic bleeding heart which was dripping blood down her gown.  
  
“Oh God, what are you supposed to make of that? She obviously knew something instinctively and I get the impression she felt things pretty deeply. It’s one of the most intense things I’ve ever seen. Obviously a Nine Inch Nails fan then.”  
  
“Yes, she liked them. I _loved_ this. I was a bit thrown at first but God, Minty is so talented and I knew what she was trying to say, that we would love each other but we would suffer for it. I wonder quite how her art developed as she got older. I do know is that she illustrates books and is quite a well known name in the fantasy art world. She concentrated the theory part of her degree on mythological art and also Romanticism and Neo-Classicism. She wanted to do purely fantasy art but she wasn’t allowed. She was quite put out that she wasn’t allowed to draw dragons and other fantastical beasts full time.”  
  
John smiled. “If she is anything like you, she would’ve been complaining long and loud about it too and argued and argued.”  
  
“That’s my girl….was my girl”.  
  
 **2001**  
  
Minty stood at Edinburgh Waverley station, scanning the arrivals and departures board impatiently, hopping from one foot to another, then pacing up and down. The 11:30 train was due in at 16:17 and Sherlock had texted her to constantly reassure her that yes he was on the right train, he was on his way and that no, it wasn’t delayed. She was very tired as she had barely slept the night before - possibly feeling like she was in a bipolar high mood swing - and also buzzing with adrenaline. She had found the perfect excuse for Sherlock to visit her with the end of year art exhibition and of course she would love Sherlock’s moral support. As a sop to her Mum, Sherlock would visit her for tea later with Minty “so that she could finally meet one of Siger’s boys and make sure that he was alright.” She pulled out her mobile from her faded and ripped blue Levis and checked the time. It was 16:10. It was platform 11 it was due into and she broke into a brisk trot across the concourse. She was dressed in a Nine Inch Nails t-shirt as well as her beloved New Rocks and daringly for her, had bought some especially pretty black lacy underwear from Marks and Spencers for the night to come. She could feel the new bra digging into her shoulder and she stopped to adjust it, hoping for the 16th time since she got dressed that morning that Sherlock would like it. She also whipped out a clear lip gloss and dabbed her lips She had thought of black lipgloss but thought it might be a little inappropriate for their first kiss later. Right, done, good.  
  
Sherlock’s train pulled slowly into the station and he got up to grab his black leather jacket and  a black weekend holdall. He hefted the bag onto his shoulder and made his way out and to the platform. He heard a loud excited yelp of “Sherlock!” and then he was nearly knocked over by Minty rushing at him. He caught her and immediately stood and held her tightly. “You’re here, you’re here I can’t believe it” she chorused. She pulled back to look up at him, beaming. To onlookers they looked like siblings who hadn’t seen each other for a while but Sherlock could feel her heart hammering, her pupils dilating and she could feel a distinct hardening against her leg which made her blush. He bent to her ear to whisper “I badly want to kiss you. I love you sweetheart.” This made her blush harder and giggle.  She looked at him and whispered “I love you too.” He hugged her again. “Oh this is so great! Right, we’ll go back to mine and dump your stuff and I’ll make you tea then we‘ll go to Mum‘s. I bought tea for you specially _and your futon is already made up in my studio._ ” She winked as she emphasised this and he roared laughing. “Araminta, you are incorrigible. Let’s go, I could murder a cup of tea.” They walked the 15 minutes back to Montague Street where she lived, Minty keeping up a constant stream of chatter and pausing at North Bridge so Sherlock could see the spectacular view of Edinburgh Castle on one side and over the Firth of Forth to Fife on the other. He offered her a cigarette and they lit up.  
  
“Mum’s made us a really nice tea for later. She’s looking forward to meeting you very much but she’s a bit nervous. She hasn’t said much but she is.”  
  
“That’s hardly surprising. She’s meeting the son of the man she had an adulterous fling with behind Mother’s back. I’m sure we’ll be one big happy family.”  
  
Minty stepped back eyes widening at Sherlock’s venom.  
  
“Sherlock, there is no need for that. If that’s your attitude you can fuck off back home right now. Mum’s not perfect but neither was our Dad. Mum’s brought me up all by myself with hardly any support apart from money from Dad. She had to be both a Mum and a Dad to me and you can at least give her a chance. This is fucking hard for me too. “Mum this is Sherlock, Sherlock this is Helen, oh and whether you like it or not, Sherlock and I are going to be committing incest later.”  
  
“Minty, keep your voice down, for God’s sake!”  
  
“We’re not perfect, she’s not perfect and this whole situation is a fucking disgusting mess but we’ll just have to make the best of it. If you can’t be civil for yourself, do it for me. _Please._ ”  
  
Sherlock turned his back for a moment so he could think without a woman having histronics disturbing him. The prospect of meeting Helen actually only reminded him how wrong the whole situation between Minty and him actually was but he would be cordial for Minty’s sake and only Minty’s sake.  
  
He turned round, Minty tense and spoiling for a fight but also anxious.  
  
“I’m sorry, sweetheart. I’ll be polite and civil to her, She’s being hospitable after all. I’ll try…for you.”  
  
Minty relaxed. “You know what your trouble is? You open your flapping pie hole and let your belly rumble. In other words, you’re a gobshite.”

 

Minty produced a set of keys out of her jeans pocket and unlocked the main door to the tenement block where she lived, beckoning Sherlock to follow her. They went up three flights of narrow concrete stairs and paused as Minty unlocked a bright green door and pushed it open. “See, even my door is green, like my dragon. After you.”  
  
They entered the narrow hall and Sherlock dumped his bag and jacket on the floor, pulling Minty to him. She stroked his face and then his hair. “My Sherlock. Alone at last.” Sherlock caught her hand and kissed the palm.  
  
And suddenly they were kissing fiercely, Minty pressed to the wall, completely lost and pulling him as close as she could. All she wanted in the world was Sherlock; her university was forgotten, her Mum forgotten, Mycroft forgotten, their shared blood forgotten. As soon as their lips touched Sherlock realised that he had simply been waiting for her and that was why no other girl made him feel this way, or ever would. This is how it was always going to be between them, they were made for each other and their being related meant that they were intimate in thought and instinct.  
  
“I…want….you.” Minty gasped. She realised that all the boys that she had previously kissed were simply that. She felt that they were lighting up Edinburgh with their passion and she could feel his hand caressing her breasts, rubbing her nipples then gently between her legs. She jumped a little, never having a man do this before, but it felt so good and so right. She was already very wet.  
  
“And I want you but we have to have dinner with your Mum and it won’t look good if we’re dishevelled before we see her. Later, Araminta. I will have you then.”  
  
Minty shivered. She suddenly loved her name when Sherlock said it like that.  
  
They reluctantly pulled apart. “I’ll go and put the kettle on.”  
  
  
  
“Mum, this is Sherlock. Sherlock, this is my Mum Helen.”  
  
Sherlock shook Helen’s hand and realised how much Minty did take after his side of the family. He saw a pleasant faced plump blonde in blue jeans and a pale pink blouse who was about 5 inches shorter than Minty.  
  
“Sherlock, it’s lovely to meet you at long last. You look so like Minty. We’re eating in the kitchen, come on through.”  
  
They were in a small flat in the Gorgie area of Edinburgh. There was a round table and four chairs in the kitchen and after Minty had taken Sherlock’s jacket to hang up, he sat himself down. The table already had a large bowl of salad and a bottle of dressing. A small picture of a couple of brightly coloured dragons flying caught his eye. He correctly guessed that her art would be displayed prominently around the place. “Tea, Sherlock?” asked Helen. “Please. I’m thirsty. Minty made me a cup when I got to her flat. What are we having?” “Vegetarian lasagne but if you want a meat one, I’ve got one in the freezer I can warm through.” “No, that’s fine thanks.” Minty appeared and sat beside him and smiled, reaching to squeeze his knee while Helen was getting cups out a cupboard. Sherlock winked. So far so good. Sherlock, in spite of himself, found Helen to be pleasant and grudgingly acknowledged what his Father had saw in her. She was warm and friendly whereas Mother was standoffish and quiet. Helen WAS a mother. “Did you get everything set up for tomorrow before you met Sherlock earlier, Mints?” Minty rolled her eyes. “Muuuuu-m, don’t call me that! I did. I’m going to go back in there at about 9 tomorrow morning so I’ve got an hour to check all my paintings over before the exhibition opens. Sherlock says he’ll help.” “And don’t wear anything too far out tomorrow. Remember, you’re going to be meeting potential clients. A plain t-shirt and those trousers you bought in Camden won’t be too bad. Sherlock, here’s your tea, dear.” Minty grinned wickedly. “So my Cradle of Filth Vestal Masturbation t-shirt would be a bit much then? The one that says Jesus is a c**t on the back?” Sherlock nearly sprayed his tea round the kitchen and had to be given a glass of water because he couldn‘t stop coughing. “Araminta, stop it. Really…I don’t know where you get your cheek from.” “It might be from my side of the family to be fair, I’m equally badly behaved apparently.”  
  
Helen produced a bottle of white wine and poured them all a glass before they started eating. Sherlock found it surprisingly tasty and even realised he felt relaxed as the wine flowed. Helen asked him about what he had studied, about his life and about Mycroft. “Thank you for coming round, Sherlock. I know this isn’t an easy situation for any of us. I thought a lot of Siger you know and didn’t want to disturb his family life at all. I was very upset when he died. He gave me my lovely daughter even though I wonder if she’s possessed by demons sometimes.” Minty blew her Mum a  raspberry. “Did you know about Minty at all before the will was read?” “No, neither Mycroft or I knew a thing. We knew Father had to go to Edinburgh for work but apart from that nothing. If Mother knew, she kept it to herself. Their relationship was always a bit frosty to be honest.” Helen set her fork down and looked Sherlock in the eye. “I didn’t want to hurt Violet. We actually saw each other for a while on and off when he came up here until I fell pregnant and then he called it off. I loved Siger, not that I ever told him because I knew it wasn‘t going to go anywhere.” “I didn’t know that, Mum.” “Darling, there’s certain things that a Mum has to keep to herself and you're old enough to know now. I had you, and that was enough for me. Siger always made sure that you had everything you needed.” “All I wanted was a Daddy who loved me and showed it.” Her tone was low and hurt. Sherlock took her hand. “If it’s any consolation, he didn’t show much love to me or Mycroft either, sweetheart. He was a workaholic and we hardly ever saw him.” “I’m sorry about that Sherlock. You’ve got a little sister now and from what I can see, you get on very well and you‘re so alike, not just in appearance but in manner. Sometimes love turns up when you least expect it.” Helen got up to clear the plates away and Sherlock and Minty looked at each other, faces burning.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7  
  
“Oh God, do we really have to wait 10 minutes for a bloody bus? What a bore.”  
  
Sherlock and Minty stood at the bus stop, shivering slightly in the dark. It was just after 10 and they had left Helen’s flat after a very pleasant evening. Helen had hugged Sherlock and told him he was welcome any time he liked and just to give her a phone if he wanted to come round if he was in Edinburgh. Sherlock had inwardly winced.  
  
Minty punched his arm playfully.  
  
“Stop it grumpy-bum. Taxis are a fucking fortune in Edinburgh and the 3 or 33 will get us all the way home.”  
  
She stretched up to whisper in his ear. “And I can’t wait to get you home.”  
  
Sherlock reached down and found her hand, giving it the tiniest of squeezes. Minty was feeling slightly woozy due to the wine and  due to being loved up. The dreaded tea at Mum’s had went smoothly and Sherlock was finally here in Edinburgh with her and would make love to her for the very first time later. She was _happy_. The bus pulled up and they got on, sitting on the top deck and Minty leaned her head on Sherlock’s shoulder.  
  
 “I’ve had a smashing time tonight, I hope you did too. Thanks for being nice to Mum, I know it’s not been easy for you.”  
  
“I actually did like Helen. I was determined not to but I realised that it would be the pot calling the kettle black if I was critical of her. For one thing, I am sorry she felt she had to keep her love for Father so secret, I know what that’s like now. And also, I wouldn’t have you.”  
  
 Minty looked up at him. “But Sherlock, all this wouldn’t be such a mess, I can’t help thinking that.”  
  
“I know that. But you wouldn’t be you if Father and Helen didn’t get together and I suppose we’ve just got to make the best of it, no matter how painful. Minty, I actually can’t imagine life without you.”  
  
Minty settled her head back on Sherlock’s shoulder and sighed contentedly. Part of her wished she could just sit on the bus forever just to savour the moment for as long as she could.  
  
It took around 20 minutes for them to reach the Southside of Edinburgh and after carefully looking around, took Sherlock’s hand and ran laughing to her main front door, fumbling with the key. “Come on, give me that.” He unlocked the door and ran up the stairs after her, giving her backside a firm slap which made her squeak. He unlocked her door and they stumbled in, laughing, Sherlock nimbly darting to avoid her New Rock boot being aimed at his rear. He caught her and kissed her. “Bed?” Minty theatrically battered her eyes.  
  
“Mr Holmes, I am but a poor innocent girl and you want to rob me of my virtue? For shame!”

 

“Miss Holmes-Mackenzie, I have nothing but dishonourable intentions. I intend to relieve you of your virtue and mine as well and we will both enjoy it.”  
  
 With that, he lifted her over his shoulder and carried her into her bedroom. “Oh sir! You will be my ruin!” “You’ll ruin my back before I put you down. All of your weight is in those boots. They weight a TON.”  
  
He laid her on the bed and pounced on her kissing her until she was breathless. “I guess we should get undressed or something?” said Minty. “I have no idea what I’m doing by the way. Seriously, I don’t. I know what goes where but apart from that, don’t expect too much.” She sat up beside Sherlock and tugged off her boots. “I hope you don’t mind?” “I don’t really know what I’m doing either to be honest.” Minty burst out laughing. “Oh God, what a pair.” “Should we just take our clothes off then and see what happens?” Sherlock started tugging up her t-shirt and she took it off. He gently cupped her breasts with his hands. “You are beautiful. He ran his thumbs over her nipples and he pushed her down to pull down her bra to kiss her breasts. Minty couldn’t believe how amazing that actually felt, from his hot breath to his tongue teasing her nipples gently. “Oh God, Sherlock!” Even watching him was a massive turn on. “By the way” she whispered “I bought my undies specially for tonight.” “Did you?” He fingered the lace trim of her bra. “Very pretty. I think I’d better check to make sure if your pants are equally alluring, don’t you?” “I insist and in fact I’d better help you.” Minty quickly took off her jeans and socks and lay back on the bed. “You’ve got too many clothes on which is disappointing me.” Sherlock then quickly undressed and lay beside Minty on the bed. “Wait a minute.” He rummaged in his bag and produced a packet of Durex Extra Safe which he handed to Minty. “A twelve pack? God, you’re keen, super stud” she chortled and then laughed until she cried. “Sorry…I think it’s nerves a bit and the wine. Very sensible. Anyway, I thought you were going to make sure my pants were alright?” He began kissing his way down her body which made her arch her back and feel dizzy with lust. “Your body is truly beautiful sweetheart, I knew it would be.” He then stroked between her legs very softly. “I’m scared to hurt you, I don’t want to be clumsy.” “Keep doing that, but harder.” He lay and kissed her, fingers rubbing her clitoris firmly through her underwear. “I feel how wet you are already” he murmured. “I’ve dreamed about this.” Minty fiercely kissed him back and dug her fingers into his back, completely lost as she threw her head back and came. “Oh God, Sherlock!” She lay panting and tingling and could feel herself pulsing and contracting. She could make herself come - and did frequently thinking about Sherlock - but this was something else entirely.  
  
Sherlock grabbed the packet of condoms and ripped open the cellophane. He paused and took her hand.  
  
“Minty, Are you absolutely sure you want to do this? I will completely understand if you don’t. Once we do this, there is no going back. I will love you even if we don‘t.”  
  
Minty nodded quickly. “I love you. I’m sure.”  
  
Sherlock tore open the condom pack and then…”Oh no. I don’t believe it…oh shit shit! Bollocks!”  
  
Minty sat up. “What’s wrong? Oh, _right._ Look, I’m sure it’s first time nerves and all that plus I think we’re both tired. Don’t worry, I’m sure it happens to blokes all of the time. We’ve got plenty more to try again.”  
  
 Sherlock threw the condom at the wall and buried his head in his hands. “I wanted tonight to be so special for us both. I don’t normally do nervous but…I am. Please don’t be disappointed.“  
  
Minty wrapped her arms around him. “You made me come the first time you tried. How can that be disappointing? I’ve heard some awful stories from the lassies at Uni who say that the boys they go with don’t have a clue and are only interested in themselves and are rubbish. Ugh.”  
  
“Can we try tomorrow? Maybe if we get a good night’s sleep and then just take our time a bit more?”  
  
“We’ll be fine. Look, I’m going to go and use the toilet and brush my teeth then we can cuddle into each other with no clothes on. In bed at last. How good is that?”  
  
Sherlock finally smiled. “It’s very good sweetheart.”  
  
Soon they both got under the covers and Minty snuggled into his arms. “It’s lovely to have you here with me instead of being at the other end of the phone in London.”  
  
“Yes and we fit together perfectly. I love you Araminta. I want to make you come like that again and again, I loved watching you.”  
  
“And I loved it. I love you too, so very much. We’ll get there, you’ll see. Night night.”  
  
They nestled together like trusting innocents and quickly fell asleep.  
  
The next day at the exhibition Sherlock was content to follow Minty about as she talked to her uni friends and chatted to prospective clients. Sherlock had reminded her to dress slightly more conservatively and she wore a skinny fit black t-shirt and her black trousers with buckles on with her New Rocks. Her painting in the exhibition was of a girl in classic Romantic style as a Dryad, all huge green eyes and gauzy clothing, peering out through trees shyly. He chuckled as she explained totally straight-faced to a stuffy looking stout gentleman in a suit that she had to go into woods at the edge of Holyrood Park to listen to the spirits of the trees to get inspiration. “You can hear them if you listen, you can!” Any other girl who said that would have slightly turned his stomach but in Minty it was part of her whole otherworldly innocence that she found magic everywhere. He realised he was the scientific analyst of the pair and she was the dreamer and the artist. He met a blur of names and faces and Minty proudly introduced him as her big brother and every time she did he tried not to think of her arching her back the night before under his touch.  
  
They stayed most of the morning then Minty suggested, as it was a lovely day, that they would walk into town and have something to eat in Princes Street Gardens.  
  
“We still have to have chips and chip sauce, we can do that later” Minty said, as they turned off the Royal Mile into Cockburn Street which mostly contained shops selling alternative clothes and gifts.  
  
“I see why you like this street, Minty.”  
  
“I do, but we’re here for a reason. Wait here,  hold the sandwiches, I’ll be right back.”  
  
Minty went into a shop called Enchanted which had pagan jewellery and ornaments in the window. He watched her talking animatedly to the hippy looking shop owner and then saw her buying something.  
  
“What did you get?”  
  
Minty tapped her nose. “Mind that. I’ll show you in a bit.”  
  
They found a sun warmed patch of grass and sat down.  
  
“Sherlock, I bought us a wee present.”  
  
Minty pulled out of her small gift bag a couple of little boxes and handed him one.  
  
“Open it.”  
  
He opened the dark blue box and found a sterling silver pendant of a coiled dragon with a black cord.  
  
Minty opened hers.  
  
“I have one too. Sherlock, I know you’re not a jewellery type person but at least keep this in your wallet or something.  My familiar is my dragon and as you’re part of me, it will protect you too. The dragon is going to keep our love safe, whatever happens, believe that.”  
  
She took the pendant from him, kissed it and handed it back.  
  
“It’s blessed now.”  
  
“Minty, what utter stuff and - “ He cut it short as she was totally calm and assured in her conviction. She gazed at him calmly and he bit his tongue.  
  
“I’ll carry it about with me always, I promise. I think you were a priestess or witch in a past life, sweetheart. Thank you.”  
  
“Put mine on me, please.”  
  
He tied the cord around her neck. He wanted to kiss the back of it very much.  
  
The dragon awoke that night and breathed fire around the couple as Sherlock undressed Minty on the futon in her studio, to make it look as if he had slept there. The moonlight shone through the window and from the window the Sailsbury Crags could be seen. She took off his shirt, stroking his chest and running her fingers through the small patch of hair. “You’re the one who is beautiful” she said wonderingly as she stroked him down to his jeans, rubbing at the hardness until he begged her to stop or he would come. He gently helped take off her clothes, laying her down and kissed his way slowly round her body, listening in delight as she begged him not to stop kissing her breasts and the sharp intake of breath as his tongue flicked inside her for the first time. She wound her fingers in his hair, loving the feeling of him pleasuring her and he paused to watch her.  
  
“Oh Jesus, don’t stop.”  
  
“How much do you love it? Tell me.”  
  
“I love it, please keep going, please don‘t stop.”  
  
“I’m going to make you come so hard sweetheart. You’re going to be so wet and ready for me this time, for our first time together. We’re going to make dragon magic tonight, I promise. We‘re going to seal our love.”  
  
He correctly guessed that this would nearly make her orbit the moon with pleasure and yet…he wondered if she might be right. It was so easy this time, so right and he felt so sure.  
  
He licked her hard and steady, tasting her juices eagerly until she bucked off the bed and cried out. Sherlock then quickly put a condom on and kissed her.  
  
“Are you ready?”  
  
“Oh God yes!”  
  
He laughed softly and then entered her, Minty’s eyes widening as she felt him for the first time. She had fully expected pain and discomfort but there was none. She wrapped her arms round him as they moved together, kissing and whispering until they fell silent and instinct drove him on to orgasm.  
  
After their heartbeats stilled and they lay tangled together Minty whispered.  
  
“We’ve shared something that we’ll share with no-one else. The dragon looked after us tonight Sherlock. I knew it would.”


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8  
  
Sherlock and John were sitting in their living room the night after Sherlock had told him about Minty. John had realised it was 5am and told Sherlock that they should get some sleep but he was going to hit pause on the conversation and start it again the following night. Sherlock agreed.  
  
“Sherlock, I’ve got something on my laptop that might explain what happened to you and Minty, I hope it will make you feel better about it.”  
  
John pointed towards Wikipedia and the entry regarding Genetic Sexual Attraction and he read:  
  
 _“Several factors may contribute to GSA. People commonly rank faces similar to their own as more attractive, trustworthy, etc. than average. Heredity  produces substantial physical similarity between close relatives. However, Bereczkei (2004) attributes this in part to childhood  imprinting on the opposite-sex parent. Shared interests and personality traits are commonly considered desirable in a mate.”_  
  
“It makes sense to me. You said to me last night that no-one else would be fit to be your wife and that pharoahs married their sisters through a sense of entitlement and prestige. Jesus Sherlock, if anyone was going to fall in love with their half sister, it would be you. You think everyone else are idiots and boring - apart from Minty. And no wonder! Her photo looks so much like you and she’s just as difficult and too clever for her own good.”  
  
“Let me read it.”  
  
Sherlock quickly read it.  
  
 “That does make sense but doesn’t it mention adoption?”  
  
“Yes, but you didn’t grow up with Minty did you? You met as adults so there is the separation factor involved. This obviously happens. There’s a link to an article from the Guardian too that goes into this in more depth and discusses the depth of feeling affected people have. This also fits. I can tell you’re as much in love with Minty now as you were then. You’re even still annoyed that you lost your erection, for God’s sake!”  
  
“But that was embarrassing. I wanted so hard to please her and make her happy.”  
  
“Every guy loses their erection at the crucial moment sooner rather than later, it’s nothing to be ashamed of. And from what you told me, Minty very much enjoyed herself. Do you still have the dragon pendant?”  
  
Sherlock nodded and looked wistful. I promised her I’d carry it about with me always and it’s in my wallet. Do you want to see it?”  
  
“Absolutely.”  
  
Sherlock reached into the jacket pocket of his suit which was hanging on a chair pulled out a black leather wallet. He opened the coin purse and handed it to John.   
  
“This means as much to me as my violin. It’s my link to her, she said that it would bind us together and I believed her. I still do. John, no-one can love each other as much as we did and have it end like it eventually did.”  
  
 **2001**  
  
Minty woke up first the morning Sherlock had to get the train back home and lay for a few minutes watching him sleep in the light filtering through the curtains. She was dreading going back to an empty flat without him. She stretched out like a cat, visibly glowing, and smirked at the thought of the amount of sex they had crammed into such a short space of time together and couldn’t quite believe that losing her virginity hadn’t hurt like Hell. She had heard some real horror stories about blood and being very sore during and afterwards but it was all sheer sybaritic sensory pleasure. She knew she was lucky. Sherlock slowly opened his eyes and reached to stroke her arm.   
  
“Morning Lady of the Dragon. I love you. After last night, you really are. Did you put a spell on me or something? Eye of newt and all that?”  
  
“I love you too. No, I didn’t. But there are forces out there that we shall never understand and I believed so it happened, that’s all. Thank you for making my first time so special by the way.”  
  
“It was my first time too, remember. Minty, I’ve had an amazing time with you and I plan to get you to come down to London as soon as possible. Your term will be ending soon, won’t it? You can come and stay with me and Mycroft, he won’t mind, and we’ll make love when he’s not about. We can do the whole tourist thing in London, if you like and you can make a list of art galleries to go to and we’ll tick them off. What do you think?”  
  
Minty squealed and pounced him him, kissing him hard until he gently pushed her away.  
  
“Minty, I need to get up and ready to get the train at 11. If you kiss me too much I will be forced to remain in your bed forever. While that isn’t actually a bad thing, people might get a bit suspicious.”  
  
“Don’t we have any time to - “  
  
“God Minty, I badly want to but we’ll have to get going. It’s half nine now and by the time we get up and ready it’ll be time to leave the flat and besides, I would want to spend a lot longer finding out what we both like. I do have a fair idea but I’d like to do some more exploratory research on the Dragon Sutra.”  
  
“You’re a daftie. Cup of tea, lover?”  
  
“I’d love one.”  
  
Walking to the train station down the Bridges and on to Princes Street was a sombre affair for them both and in silence. Sherlock didn’t want to leave Minty and Minty didn’t want him to go. She kept stealing glances at him as she walked thinking of her dragon and mentally wished on him to keep her Sherlock safe. She viewed it as her way of flying Tibetan prayer flags and would send postitive thoughts and energy where they were most needed. When they were alone they could forget for a little while that they were blood related  but when they emerged blinking from the eyrie of her flat they were painfully reminded of reality. They headed down Waverley Steps and into the train station straight to the departures board and then straight to platform 10 as they only had 10 minutes. They would have had more time but Minty had pounced back on Sherlock after they both had tea and coffee and he had decided to make her come as quickly and as hard with his fingers as he could “so that he could take that as a lasting memory away with him.”  
  
Sherlock checked his ticket. “Coach C, sweetheart.” After wandering up and down the platform they eventually found it.  
  
“I will phone you later sweetheart. Oh please don’t cry.”  
  
Minty’s tears were pouring down her face and she brushed them away.  
  
“I’m just being a silly sausage. I’ve had a wonderful time, you’ve no idea. Keep the dragon with you.”  
  
“ I promise I will. Come here.”  
  
Sherlock opened his arms and Minty shot into them. He kissed the top of her head.  
  
“I love you so much Araminta.” he whispered hoarsely.  
  
“I love you too Sherlock. You’d better get on the train I suppose.”  
  
He bent to kiss her cheek, lifted his bag and got on. As soon as he put his bag on the overhead luggage rack he sat down and stuck his tongue out to make Minty giggle. As the train pulled out the station they waved to each other furiously. Minty turned away, blinded by tears reaching for her cigarettes . Sherlock sat in the train staring ahead white faced and morose.  
  
“She sent me this which she apparently drew that night. It’s quite intimate but it just shows what we really had together in one drawing. Don‘t worry, you don‘t see anything you shouldn‘t.”  
  
“Are you sure you want me to see this?”  
  
“Yes, here you go.”  
  
It was a very realistic pencil drawing of Minty and Sherlock on Minty’s bed, naked, wrapped around each other and kissing. A dragon - “the same as the one on her arm” - hovered protectively at the top of the bed and its long tail coiled around the couple to spare their blushes.   
  
“I feel I should be telling you both to get a room looking at this. It’s beautiful and Minty is absolutely gorgeous, I just have to say that. The pencil work and detail is stunning.”  
  
Sherlock smirked. “Yes she is. She said in the note with it this is how she imagined the dragon with us when we slept together, keeping us safe.”  
  
Sherlock’s eyes welled with tears.   
  
“And in the end it wasn’t enough. We both wanted to be safe and hidden from view but in the end real life got in the way and ruined EVERYTHING. I will never forgive Mycroft for what he did.”  
  
“Sherlock…what did happen in the end?”


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9  
  
“Sherlock, we’ve got the flat to ourselves. Mycroft said he won’t be back until later, didn’t he?”  
  
Minty was sitting on the kitchen worktop of Sherlock and Mycroft’s palatial Mayfair flat with her arms wrapped around Sherlock. They had spent the last week and a half tearing round London like a two headed Tasmanian Devil, jumping on and off tube trains, buses, drinking in random pubs, wandering round art galleries, museums and growing ever more in love and lust with each other. Sherlock had taken his camera and filled it with photos of Minty at Trafalgar Square posing with the giant lions, at the Tower of London charming the Beefeaters and Minty at the House of Commons (Mycroft had taken them both on a tour). They would return back to the flat tired and very careful to return alone to their separate bedrooms ready for another day’s romping and representing around the city - and rogering. Minty found she had a taste for quickies in dark dimly lit streets and Sherlock often had to put his hand over her mouth to stop her screaming. London gave them the chance to be a normal young couple and averted its eyes from their truth.  
  
“He did. I think he’s got some tiresome debate he can’t get out of, I think. It all sounded very stuffy and boring and not worth paying attention to. But of course when you tell him that he gives me yet another lecture on how at least he has a meaningful role in society and I am a waster.”  
  
“You’re not a waster. You’ve got a very important function in society indeed.”  
  
“Which is?”  
  
“Educating me in the ways of love and inspiring some of my favourite drawings so far.”  
  
She bent her mouth to his and they kissed long and hard.  
  
“You’re irresistible, irrepressible and incorrigible, Araminta. And I love it.”  
  
  
  
“Nice alliteration. I love you too.  How do you suggest we while away this afternoon then?”  
  
“I’m open to suggestions.”  
  
“I think we should have a long bath using one of those bath bomb things I bought yesterday at Lush in Covent Garden and then we should retire to your bed.”  
  
  
After spending half an hour in the bath and soaking the bathroom floor with splashing water and foam at each other, they ran naked into Sherlock’s bedroom, slamming the door behind them. Sherlock pulled Minty down on the bed and they rolled around on it, kissing, fondling and licking. Minty kissed her way down Sherlock’s body and then took him into her mouth, teasing him with quick licks and kisses until he moaned at her that he was being driven crazy and _please just do it_. Minty paused, looked up at him with shining eyes and resumed, lips caressing him.  Sherlock gripped the bed and his head spun, full of Minty, and he would return the favour as soon as she was done.  
  
The front door slammed. They didn’t hear it.  
  
Footsteps on the stairs. They didn’t hear them.  
  
Footsteps in the hall. They didn’t hear them.  
  
“Sherlock? Minty?”  
  
A pause at the bedroom door.  
  
“What the Hell - “ They didn’t notice that.  
  
Two firm knocks and the door opened.  
  
Minty sprang off Sherlock immediately and grabbed a pillow to cover herself, cowering against the headboard. She froze, embarrassed beyond belief, heart almost jumping out of her chest and blushing bright red. She stared at a blue stripe on the duvet cover, hoping that Mycroft would just turn round and walk out and this would be just a horrible bad dream.  
  
Sherlock sat up and stared at their big brother unblinking, like a snake ready to strike.  
  
Mycroft was very still and very pale and was both appalled by what he had just walked into and trying to wipe  Minty’s undeniably beautiful naked body from his mind.  
  
“What the Hell is going on here? Please don’t tell me I just saw my little sister giving my little brother a blow job?”  
  
Minty’s head rose up sharply and tears ran down her face, beyond humiliated.  
  
Sherlock gave Mycroft his best withering stare.  
  
“Do not make this sound sordid because it isn’t. What are you doing back early anyway?”  
  
“The debate finished early and I was going to invite you both out to dinner…that’s not the point. The last thing I expected to see were the two of you in bed together and Minty acting like a two bob slapper.”  
  
Minty tossed aside her pillow and stood up in one fluid movement and stood in front of Mycroft, crossing her arms, shame replaced by defensive anger.  
  
“I might be a lot of things but I am not a slapper. If you don’t watch what you say I will punch your teeth so far down your throat you’ll be able to eat your dinner with your arse.”  
  
Mycroft couldn’t help himself. He looked her up and down taking in the long legs, slim waist and surprisingly full breasts. He grudgingly acknowledged what Sherlock saw in her.  
  
“Right you old perv, now that you’ve had a good enough look, I’m going to put some fucking clothes on.”  
  
She shot Mycroft a look of pure poison and stalked out.  
  
“Mycroft, did you really have to be so vile? What we were doing is perfectly normal, I believe. Not that I’d ever expect you to understand. You can say whatever you want to me and it will be like water off a duck‘s back but do not be cruel to Minty.”  
  
“Sherlock, do not claim superiority over me in this matter. You and Araminta are committing incest in my flat.”  
  
Sherlock ignored this and started getting dressed. Minty stomped back into the room in a Black Sabbath t-shirt and black jeans and sat down on the bed with a sullen thump.  
  
“So how long has this been carrying on then? This seedy little coupling of yours?”  
  
“Sherlock and I love each other, you opinionated c**t. I’m really sorry that you had to see what you did but we can’t help it. Do you really think we wanted this to happen?”  
  
Sherlock chipped in.  
  
“I believe I loved Minty the first moment we met her Mycroft. I was drawn to her and I fought it for as long as I could, we both did. We both hate the fact we’re…blood related. I‘m not ashamed of what we are to each other. We‘re a couple in love, first and foremost.”  
  
“Half brother and sister in love, to be precise.”  
  
“Don’t you think we don’t know that? For fuck’s sake, we just want to be left alone. We’re not hurting anyone. Can’t you pretend all this never happened?”  
  
“Minty, that’s not possible I’m afraid. You’re breaking the law in my flat and this stupid carry-on is going to have to stop, for everyone‘s sake. For heaven’s sake, neither of you have thought this through carefully, have you? You do realise you can’t marry or have children? You have actually used contraception?”  
  
Minty rolled her eyes.  
  
“I’m on the pill and Sherlock uses condoms. We have actually thought of all that. We don’t care about getting married or having kids. We just love each other, is that so hard to understand?”  
  
“Mycroft, when you say for everyone’s sake, do you actually mean for your sake or for me and Minty‘s?”  
  
Sherlock was fully dressed by now in a black shirt and blue jeans and was pacing up and down.  
  
Mycroft closed his eyes and ground his teeth, knowing that he was very close to punching Sherlock hard.  
  
“I’m going to be reasonable.”  
  
“Oh that’s fucking big of you.” Minty lit a cigarette and offered the packet to Sherlock who gladly took one. “Thanks sweetheart. Are you alright?”  
  
Minty nodded and took a long drag, blowing her smoke out at Mycroft who waved it away.  
  
“If I was Father, I’d have put you over my knee and spanked you when you were a child, you insolent little bitch. And I think that’s the problem. No discipline.”  
  
“And I bet you want to, don’t you Mycroft? Is that your problem? I saw the way you looked at me earlier. I couldn’t fancy you baked, boiled or fried. Sherlock‘s my man. And incidentally darling Daddy wasn‘t about enough to give a shit if I was an insolent little bitch or not.”  
  
Minty puffed on her fag.  
  
“You are going home tonight. I will pay for your train ticket and you will never see or contact Sherlock again. I will call Helen and explain that you and Sherlock have had a massive fall out, I’ll concoct some story. Then we can forget all of this ever happened.”  
  
Minty stood up, panicking, all bravado slipping away.  
  
“Look, I’m sorry I was cheeky. You can’t do this! Please…I’ll leave tonight if you want but Sherlock and I need each other. You don’t understand. I can’t do without him.”  
  
Sherlock walked right up to Mycroft and stood practically nose to nose.  
  
“Mycroft, Minty’s right. We can’t live without each other. This isn’t a cheap fling. I’d marry Minty if I could, that’s how strongly I feel about her.”  
  
Minty didn’t expect that and her eyes widened.  
  
“I feel for you both, I really do, but this is for the best. The alternative is that I call the police. I don’t want either of you carrying on this disgusting situation in my flat or with my knowledge. Your choice. It‘s over. Live with it.”  
  
“But we can’t! I love him, please Mycroft. Don’t be heartless.”  
  
“Mycroft, I’m asking you nicely. We will not do this in your flat but leave us be.”  
  
“Go and pack your things Minty now or I will have you both arrested and charged.”  
  
 **“You absolute shit.”**  
  
Sherlock head butted Mycroft and Mycroft fell down. Sherlock’s face was contorted with pure blind rage and was about to punch Mycroft hard in the face but Minty grabbed his fist.  
  
“No, Sherlock, he’s not fucking worth it. I’ll go.”  
  
Mycroft wiped his nose and look at his bloodied fingers, struggling to stand up.  
  
Minty walked out the room, crying hard now. Sherlock ran after her, stopping her and holding her shoulders hard.  
  
“Minty, look at me sweetheart. I’ll find a way round this, I promise. This is not over, remember you said the dragon will protect us? I will sort something out. I love you, I always will.”  
  
Mycroft appeared in the hall. “You’ve got 10 minutes to get packed and say your goodbyes. Think yourself lucky I don’t add assault to incest. You both disgust me.”  
  
Sherlock helped Minty pack her things as she was crying so hard she could hardly see or pick anything up.  
  
“Stop a minute.”  
  
Minty sat on her bed and put her head in her hands. Sherlock sat beside her and she huddled into him.  
  
“I can’t do this Sherlock. I can’t lose you, I love you too much.”  
  
“You’re not going to. I am going to work something out. Let the dust settle for a couple of weeks and then I will call you. By then I will have worked out how we can be together, I promise. Mycroft isn’t as strong as your dragon is he?”  
  
Minty sighed.  
  
“But he’s right. All we can do is see each other in secret. How long would it be before Mum found out? She would be so disappointed in me, in us. I bet Mycroft will tell her anyway. I love you so much. I don’t know what to do anymore. Help me pack, please.”  
  
Sherlock quietly picked up her clothes and handed them to her, putting the conversation on pause. He was going to make sure he would never lose her.  
  
Mycroft stuck his head round the door.  
  
“The taxi’s waiting.”  
  
Minty and Sherlock looked at each other in agony and kissed with all the passion they had. Mycroft couldn’t watch and knew if he did, his resolve would completely crumble. They gripped each other tightly and pulled apart slowly, never taking their eyes from each other. Sherlock’s heart ached as Minty’s eyes were no longer sparkling at him.  
  
Minty headed down the steps to the pavement, sobbing and Mycroft passed her bag to her, shutting the taxi door behind them both. He was holding a wad of tissue to his nose.  
  
Sherlock stood at the front door.  
  
“MINTY! DON’T LEAVE ME!”  
  
He sank onto the step, hugging his knees, body racked with  desperate sobs.  
  
 _“Minty, please don’t leave me.”_


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10  
  
“Sherlock, I don’t know what to say. I’ll go get you some kitchen roll. Do you want a cup of tea?”  
  
Sherlock sat forward, face buried in his hands, sobbing as hard as he did that dreadful day in 2001.   
  
“Yes please.” Sherlock croaked. He felt like a dish cloth that had been wrung out.  
  
John returned with a cup of tea that he set down on the table before Sherlock and handed him a wad of kitchen paper. He hunkered down as Sherlock dried his eyes, blew his nose and handed it back so that John dispose of it.  
  
“Is there any whisky in the flat?”  
  
“I think I need one after that as well, for medicinal purposes. I’ve got a bottle of Laphroaig?”  
  
“Excellent.”  
  
“I can seem to find any tumblers so we’ll have to rough it with cups.”  
  
“I don’t care.” Sherlock downed his tea and handed him his cup, John pouring him a generous measure and handing it back and giving himself the same.  
  
“I can tell you’ve got Scottish blood, that’s a triple.”  
  
John raised his cup. “Slainte Mhath.”  
  
Sherlock coughed. “Christ, I’d forgotten how strong that stuff is. Good though.”  
  
“Better?  
  
“A bit. Thank you..”  
  
“There’s certain things about you that are starting to make some sense now I think about them.”  
  
“Such as?”  
  
“The violent way you’ve been crying tonight. I think your emotions have been suspended in time since that day. And as you can’t love anyone else or consider anyone else emotionally so you bite poor Molly’s head off when she attempts to be nice to you because you know she likes you and you will never be able to reciprocate.”  
  
Sherlock took another drink and blinked rapidly, eyes watering.   
  
“Perhaps. That and although she means well, she can be exceptionally irritating without trying. I have never cried over another person, ever.”  
  
“Did you contact Minty in a fortnight then?”  
  
“Yes. I kept to my word. I didn’t call or text her even though it was terribly hard. I also didn’t speak to Mycroft for over a month. I make sure I kept firmly out of his way. He tried to speak to me but I mostly kept to my room. I knew if I did, I would end up hurting him quite seriously and not just by head butting him. I was filled with unbearable anger and I felt so lonely without Minty. She wasn’t just my half sister and lover, she was also my best friend. I did call her and text her but I never got a reply so I wrote to her. The letter was returned unopened with a note from Helen. I still have them both, give me a minute.”  
  
Sherlock disappeared for a few minutes and returned with a small note card with sunflowers on the cover and a white unopened envelope. He handed both to John.  
  
 _Dear Sherlock  
  
I understand from Mycroft you have had some sort of massive row with Minty and he would not elaborate on what this was. Minty was in a terrible state when she returned from London and refuses to tell me what the matter is. I asked her to move in with me as I was concerned for her mental health which requires monitoring as she is Bipolar. Three nights ago I found Minty unconscious in her bedroom. It would appear she saved up her medication and also took painkillers. She is now in the Royal Edinburgh which is the local mental health hospital. Thankfully no permanent damage was done to her liver but her mental health is concerning her psychiatrist who is trying to get her to speak about it. I brought in your letter to her thinking it might do some good and she became hysterical just seeing your handwriting on the envelope. I do not read other people’s letters so I thought I would return it to you.  
  
For Minty’s sake, please do not contact her again.  
  
Yours sincerely  
  
Helen_  
  
“May I open the letter?”  
  
Sherlock nodded and took another gulp of whisky.  
  
 _Dearest Araminta,  
  
I have tried to call and text you several times and you have not responded to me. I waited a fortnight as I said I would. I hope that you read this and know that I am desperate to hear from you and also to know that you are alright. I have refused to speak to Mycroft since you had to leave and I am disgusted with him for treating you in that manner. I know that he is contemptuous of me most of the time and I care not a jot for his opinion, this is the way it has always been between us but to be so foul to you was unforgivable_. _I am very concerned that you now think that what we were doing at the time was somehow shameful and dirty which it wasn’t. If you were to speak to me I would tell you that you were a force of nature that makes me feel alive and that I can’t get enough of. I would tell you that you challenge, perplex, intrigue and enchant me; that your body is a source of wild pleasure and that I would give anything for you to be in my arms again. Tell me what I can do to make your eyes shine again and I will do it because they were dimmed when we parted.  
I want us to be together for as long as we want each other. I wasn’t joking when I said I would marry you if it was legal to do so. This is how strongly I feel about you but I can imagine you would prefer a traditional hand fasting conducted by a Druid in some field in the middle of nowhere wouldn’t you? I feel we are wedded in spirit and body,  I want no other woman and I should imagine that is how a married couple should be, not that our parents were ideal role models. We need to find our own way given our less than ideal circumstances.  
  
I think it may be possible for us to change our names via Deed Poll and move abroad so we can live together. We may never be able to make a formal commitment to each other but providing we are discreet it would be possible to live a fairly settled life. We both have some money of our own courtesy of Father so if we pool resources it would tide us over until we sorted out some employment. And especially for you I would do my very best to tolerate a manager to keep myself in gainful employment and of course you must be creative. I thought of somewhere appropriately Bohemian like Amsterdam? Knowing my talented Minty, you of course will have been awarded your BA (Hons) Fine Art by now and it will be a First. Will you be continuing towards your Masters or not? Who else is going to draw me dragons? Speaking of which, I believe the dragon would not wish us to give up. I am not a fanciful or spiritual person and think like a scientist - you are the pagan of us both and in the best possible way - but I do believe that the first time we made love it sealed our love for life, I felt it that night and if that was your dragon at work then it shall be so.   
  
Please call me as soon as you get this letter and if you agree, I will start making appropriate arrangements for us to leave the UK and will help you with changing your name. Do not worry about anything sweetheart, I will arrange everything so you are not stressed. And if you are upset about us committing incest then please believe me when I say I just want YOU first and foremost. **All the rest does not matter.** I can’t reiterate that enough and will be content with whatever you have to offer me.  
  
You are the love of my life, Lady of the Dragon.  
  
Always,  
  
Sherlock_  
  
Sherlock drained the last of the whisky and gasped.   
  
“Oh Sherlock. Poor, poor girl. Do you think it was too much, Mycroft discovering you both in bed?”  
  
“Minty was pretty fearless and gave as good as she got. I think she was scared of being arrested and also not being able to talk to me and  her being made to feel cheap would have drastically affected her state of mind, she was very proud. Like me she is high functioning but everything combined would have been too much. I read Helen’s letter and actually lost it myself, I was in the living room and I went bezerk. I caused a fair bit of damage and Mycroft found me surrounded by bits of smashed chair and sobbing curled in a foetal position.”  
  
“What did he do?”  
  
“He didn’t call the police. He said nothing actually and didn’t even get angry. Maybe he realised by then how much damage he had done to us both? I remember he told me to go to bed, he would tidy up and I gave him Helen’s letter. He read it and I watched him go very pale and silent. He called a doctor who checked me over and prescribed me some sleeping pills and some anti depressants which I couldn’t be bothered with. I had to accept what Helen said and didn’t want to upset Minty further. I’m still incredibly upset she tried to kill herself. I really wish she had been well enough to read my letter, I still wonder if it would’ve changed things and by now we could’ve been living quietly together.”  
  
“Do you really think it would’ve been quiet? I’ve never met Minty but I know you and I can imagine sparks flew.”  
  
Sherlock laughed. “Yes. Sparks would fly but in the best possible way. I can still see her standing naked threatening to knock Mycroft‘s teeth out and trust me, she wasn‘t kidding.”  
  
And then he stood up and started walking about.  
  
“And I am condemned to a life of loving a wonderful woman who cannot be mine due to some stupid bloody legalities and she is going to be married in three month’s time.”  
  
“Sherlock, you really need to get some closure regarding this. Minty is clearly moving on and you do need to as well. Maybe you should consider seeing a psychologist. Okay, maybe not.”  
  
Sherlock fixed a unsettling stare on John and he immediately regretted making the suggestion.  
  
“I think we’ll draw it to a close for tonight. I’ll happily keep discussing this with you for as long as you want, I promise. Are you alright with that?”  
  
Sherlock yawned. “I suppose so. I’m tired. Thank you again.”  
  
“No need mate. See you in the morning, I’ll switch the lights off. Night.”  
  
“Night John.”


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11  
  
 **Nearly three months later**  
  
Sherlock strode into St Bart’s on a mission holding two Starbucks cups. He needed to speak with Molly regarding a rather pressing matter. He knew Molly was working today and knew that she would always make time for him. He claimed he didn’t have friends, but Molly, despite having a massive unrequited crush on him, had came through for him when it counted and helped save his life when Jim Moriarty  
 had plotted to kill him and destroy his reputation. She had obtained a body and made it to look incredibly like Sherlock as a decoy. She had also allowed Sherlock to lie low at her flat and to safely disappear afterwards. She had somehow disarmed him with kindness and he rather hoped that she might help him sort out something of utmost importance. Not that he really needed help, mind. Just a female perspective which of course he didn’t have.  
  
Molly was busy looking at samples under a microscope when Sherlock kicked the swing doors open.  
  
“Hello Molly. I’ve brought you a skinny latte from Starbucks. Filthy corporate rubbish really but here you are.”  
  
He set the cup down beside Molly.  
  
“Sherlock, hi. Thank you. I wasn’t expecting  - “  
  
“I know. I really need to speak to you so rather than waiting until your shift ended I thought I’d bring myself and refreshments to you. I’ve got tea.”  
  
Sherlock pulled up a chair.  
  
“What’s up?”  
  
“Molly, I’m going to tell you something you need to know about me. I’m telling you because I’m hoping that we can both benefit from this. You might be able to get over your ridiculous and unmerited infatuation with me and I might be able to sort out a situation that is troubling me terribly.”  
  
Molly’s mouth hung open.  
  
“Why do you always have to be so rude and blunt? And what makes you - ”  
  
“But I’m right, aren’t I?”  
  
Molly sipped at her coffee. It was just as she liked it, no foam. Damn him.  
  
“Yes. Anyway, what’s wrong?”  
  
Her manner had softened into real concern. Sherlock was relieved.  
  
“Molly, I am in love with a woman who is getting married in two days time and there doesn’t seem to be much I can do about it.”  
  
“Who? Irene Adler?”  
  
“No, it’s not Irene Adler. Why on earth would you think that?”  
  
“Well, you did like her and I heard she was absolutely gorgeous, intelligent and a bit scary too. Stands to reason really.”  
  
Sherlock laughed. “I don’t think you’re far wrong actually but no, it’s not her although this lady is gorgeous, intelligent and the situation is actually very scary.”  
  
“Why is it scary? Sherlock? Are you in trouble again? Are you having an affair with her or something?”  
  
“No. Molly, you’ve always thought the best of me even when you’ve had no cause to. Would you still think the best of me if I told you the relationship was technically illegal, I wonder?”  
  
“I don’t understand. I know there’s no way you’d see anyone under-age so what is it?”  
  
Sherlock took a long gulp at his tea because his mouth had suddenly gone very dry.  
  
“Ten years ago I found out my Father had an affair and as a consequence I have a half sister living in Edinburgh. Her name is Minty, short for Araminta. Mycroft and I met her for the first time at the reading of my Father’s will, she was left a considerable sum of money and God help me Molly, as soon as I looked at her I was attracted to her. She is five years younger than me and she felt the same way and God knows we tried to fight it. We became lovers and when Minty came to stay with Mycroft and I he unfortunately walked in on us when were were being intimate. He told us we either had to never see each other again or he would call the police. I managed to tell Minty to wait a fortnight and I would contact her to work something out. I got no reply to my calls or texts so I wrote to her. I later learnt that she tried to commit suicide and I was asked by Helen, Minty’s Mum, not to contact her again. She returned my letter unopened. I’m in turmoil, Molly. John‘s been talking to me about it to try to make me feel better but it‘s just crystallised everything for me and made me realise how much I still love her.”  
  
Molly set her cup to one side and reached over to squeeze Sherlock’s hand and hold it. Sherlock didn’t pull away and couldn’t look at her.  
  
“Sherlock, you’re actually shaking. I’m not saying it’s right but I’m not saying it’s entirely wrong either. You weren’t brought up together so it’s not as if it’s like something really creepy or distasteful. I’m not going to judge you…I’m sure she must be pretty special for you to feel this way.”  
  
“Yes, she is. I told her just before it ended that I would’ve married her if I could so I feel sick at the thought of her marrying, I really do. Molly, if you were Minty, how would you feel if someone turned up out of the blue asking you to at least reconsider and that it had all been a misunderstanding?”  
  
Molly shook her head.  
  
“I’ve no idea to be honest. I think I’d want to slap you and kiss you all at the same time.” Molly giggled self-consciously. “I’ve wanted to do that to you anyway a few times as it is. But - if I still had feelings for that person that I’d been trying to ignore, I think I might be glad as then I could get some closure and my mind would be made up either way as I’d have to make a choice.”  
  
Sherlock looked at her. “It’s interesting you said closure. John told me that I needed to get closure on this. Right…very good. Very good indeed. Molly, you’ve been a great help. Please keep this to yourself, if you see John don’t tell him we were discussing this.”  
  
“You know I will. Sherlock?”  
  
Sherlock was standing up and gathered up the empty cups.  
  
“Yes?”  
  
“I appreciate you talking to me too. I always wondered if it was because you didn’t like me. I know that sounds silly but at least I know now. I hope that whatever you decide to do, it works out, you deserve to be happy.”  
  
Sherlock bent to kiss her cheek.  
  
“Thank you.”  
  
And he left. Molly stared into the distance and slowly processed everything that Sherlock told her, feeling sad and pensive for herself and worried, so worried for him. She  hoped that whoever Minty happened to be would realise just how special Sherlock was and would choose him - or the fallout would be spectacular. At least now…Molly knew. And although she felt very down, it was oddly alright. Sherlock was like a thoroughbred and she always felt like a shaggy pit pony next to him, practically falling over her hooves when he serenely clip-clopped into sight. Oh Minty, whoever you are, please be kind to him. Just love him. _Please._  
  
Sherlock made his way back to Baker Street and began looking up train times and hotel details on his laptop. He was going back to Edinburgh for the first time in 10 years and rather hoped that he might not go back home alone. After swearing and gesticulating at the screen for half an hour he managed to find disgracefully priced accommodation. Oh course it was the Festival and hotel room prices were always hiked up for these sorts of things. If all this worked, it would be worth every penny. And in half an hour he had Minty’s wedding location and the hotel where the meal and reception were to be held. Oh this was too easy. She was to be married at the registry office at George IV Bridge and the reception was at the Radisson on the Royal Mile.  
  
John had came in struggling with bags of food shopping and dumped them in the kitchen.  
  
“Oh, don’t bother to get up and help me or anything, really I insist you just sit there and watch. What are you looking so smug about anyway?”  
  
“John, there’s going to be no wedding.”  
  
“Sherlock, what are you going on about?”  
  
“THE wedding.”  
  
“No, you’ve lost me now, mate.”  
  
“Oh for the love of God - MINTY’S WEDDING!”  
  
“Sorry?”  
  
“I am going to Edinburgh tomorrow and I intend to make sure her wedding does not go ahead. I HAVE to talk to her. And all going well, there will be a runaway bride coming home with me.”  
  
“Sherlock, you’ve really fucking lost it this time. She’s getting married…she’ll be thinking about the dress and the honeymoon and getting pissed at the reception, not about her half brother who she had a thing with 10 years ago. Do yourself a favour and forget it.”  
  
“That’s it John, _I can’t_. And my train travel and hotel room are booked. Sorry, I’m going. I wasn’t going to tell you but I thought I better had, especially if it gets a bit hairy up there. Besides, I spoke to Molly and ran it past her.”  
  
John’s voice rose about two octaves.  
  
“You told Molly? Jesus Christ. You’re either the bravest man on the planet or so up yourself it’s not funny. I’m going to go for the latter. Molly fancies you like mad. I’m surprised she didn’t ram her microscope up your arse.”  
  
Sherlock smirked. “Not enough room, there’s already too much hypothetical rubbish up there. She was very good about it and told me that if she was Minty she would want me to. I’m going John. I have to.”  
  
“Right,  if you’re so set on this fool’s errand, sort me out with travel and a hotel room. You’ll need a wingman. Pissed Scotsmen at weddings aren’t a pretty sight and I’m not just talking about the kilts.”  
  
“Great, I already have. I knew you would.”


	12. Chapter 12

Minty was being zipped into her wedding dress by her Mum and smoothed it down over her waist and hips.  
  
“How does it look then?”  
  
“Oh flower, you look like a dream come true. You’re beautiful.”  
  
“Aw Mum, don’t cry for God’s sake. You’ll set me off in a minute.”  
  
“Come and look in the mirror in my bedroom.”  
  
Minty hitched up the skirt and minced her way into Helen’s bedroom to look at herself in the full length mirror. She had to admit she looked very good. The dress was a simple cream affair that exposed her shoulders and fell to the floor with delicate embroidery. It was an Ebay steal and her hair was wound up on her head with cream roses. She looked again in the mirror. Although the make up girl had gone for the clichéd delicate blushing bride look and it wasn’t yet sliding off her face with the heat of a sunny August early afternoon, it couldn’t hide the slightly haunted look in her green eyes. She needed whisky number four.  
  
This was supposed to be the happiest day of her life and the perfect day that she was supposed to dream of and moon over like crazy. But she felt empty and didn’t know why. And this _bothered_ her. She was staring at her reflection that would fool everyone else apart from her and she suddenly felt sweaty, lumpy and constricted in the dress.   
  
“Mum? Can I have another whisky please?”  
  
Minty sat on the corner of her Mum’s bed. Think! She was due at the registry office in an hour. Everyone she wanted to come was going to be there and her guests had been very generous with her John Lewis wedding list. Alan would be there in his kilt waiting for her looking handsome and they would go off for their week in Paris tomorrow so that they could look at priceless works of art in the Lourve like she’d always wanted.   
  
Helen came up the stairs and into her bedroom with a tumbler full of Glenmorangie and handed it to Minty. Helen was in a delicate pale pink coloured suit and a matching fascinator.  
  
“Here you go. Are you alright?”  
  
“Thanks. I’m fine, just feeling a bit jittery.”  
  
Minty took a large gulp.  
  
“What about?”  
  
“I don’t even know myself, Mum. I just feel a bit weird. Like all this isn’t really happening and I should be mega excited but I don’t feel anything like that.”  
  
“I think wedding days are like that sweetheart. They become about everything else like the guests and the meal and the ceremony but not about you. Or so I’ve heard. Don’t worry about it, darling. You still do want to get married don’t you? You’re not having second thoughts?”  
  
“No, of course not. I’ll be fine, I’m just being silly.”  
  
“You’re not. You’re going to have a wonderful day and Alan is going to be the luckiest man in Scotland.”  
  
Helen hugged her.  
  
“I just wish it was your Dad walking you down the aisle instead of your Uncle Sandy.”  
  
“No, Dad wasn’t a Dad. Uncle Sandy’s great.”  
  
“Why didn’t you ask Mycroft?”  
  
Minty shook her head violently.  
  
“No way, Mum. I’ve got my reasons. Anyway, happy thoughts! I’m going to the chapel and I’m going to get married!”  
  
Minty sang out but her tone was too brittle and high.   
  
Stacey, Alan’s sister who was Minty’s bridesmaid, stuck her head round the door.  
  
“Come on, gorgeous. Time to go.”  
  
Minty got up and lifted her dress up off the floor.  
  
“Shit, where are my shoes?”  
  
Stacey reappeared in a light blue dress and handed her the delicate high heeled shoes. Minty sat back on the bed and worked them onto her feet, wincing.  
  
“I’m going to be cripped to bastard fuck before the end of the day. Go me and my size 8 clodhoppers. I fucking **hate** heels, can‘t walk in the fuckers to save themselves.”  
  
She gingerly made her way outside and into the waiting car, still feeling out of sorts. Stacey handed her the wedding bouquet of white and red roses and greenery.  
  
Her hand stroked her old dragon pendant but this time it didn’t reassure her. It made her feel worse. Alan had asked her to take it off for the day and had offered to buy her a new necklace for the wedding but Minty had flatly refused, saying that the only way that it would come off her would for someone to hold her down and rip it off. She had compromised herself enough for Alan…but not this.   
_  
It’s your last link to Sherlock._  
  
The insidious voice whispered in her ear and she squeezed her eyes tightly and ran old song lyrics through her head to drown it out.  
  
“You alright, Minty?”  
  
“My feet are hurting a bit Uncle Sandy, I’m alright, sorry. I’ll be glad to get this over and done with to be honest, all this fuss.”  
  
Sandy and Stacey exchanged concerned glances.  
 _  
Minty settled back and closed her eyes, wishing she was miles away…running through the streets of London laughing,  holding a tall man’s hand and ducking into an alleyway at dusk, pulling him close for a scorching kiss as he undid the zip and buttons on her jeans…pushed hard against a wall as they silently rode the night through and the silken black and stars whirled above her head…._

 

She stared at nothing as the car drove onwards through the crowded city.   
  
Come on Holmes-Mackenzie soon to be Winters. Alan’s here and he loves you. You live together, it’s not a bad life. A random quote popped into her head from a magazine article she had read years ago which was about Prince Charles and Princess Diana’s ill fated marriage. Diana had pre wedding jitters and one of her sisters told her it was too late to pull out of the wedding as her face was on all the tea towels. It’s not that bad! Alan is good to you, he doesn’t hit you, he loves you, he’s dependable and you get on alright. It was more than a lot of people had. Yep, it would be fine. She could do this. It was just nerves, that’s all and maybe too many large drams. Yes, that was it. Of course it was.  
  
 _And in another timespace  she sat on the grass in Hyde Park while  a circlet of daisies she had woven together was set on her head and a man with dearly familiar laughing green eyes called her The Dragon Queen….the same eyes that she saw in the mirror in her Mum’s room….  
  
Lavender's blue, dilly dilly, lavender's green,  
When you are King, dilly dilly, I shall be Queen.   
Who told you so, dilly dilly, who told you so?   
'Twas my own heart, dilly dilly, that told me so….  
  
 ….Lavender's green, dilly, dilly, Lavender's blue,  
If you love me, dilly, dilly, I will love you.  
Let the birds sing, dilly, dilly, And the lambs play;  
We shall be safe, dilly, dilly, out of harm's way._  
  
Sherlock and John walked along the Royal Mile and past the Bank of Scotland on the corner across from the registry office. They paused and John adjusted the boutonniere on his suit lapel which, being in Scotland, was a sprig of white heather. Sherlock had ducked into a flower shop and had them quickly made up so that they would at least look like part of a wedding party even if they were to interrupt it.   
  
“Do you think that’s everyone going in?”  
  
“Yes, there’s the car pulling up now. John…there she is. She looks…. _incredible._ ”  
  
Sherlock stood from a safe distance and stared at Minty as she got out of the car and waited for a girl in a blue dress to hand her the bouquet.   
  
“You’re not wrong. I still thought you were off your rocker until 5 seconds ago. All this is actually making some sense, now I see her.”  
  
“I’m not just after her for her looks, stunning as they are, honestly. We’ll have to wait until everyone goes in and then I’ll head in as her long lost brother, just stay outside and watch my back.”  
  
“Right, with you. We’ll give it a few minutes.”  
  
“John?”  
  
“Yep?”  
  
“Out of all the covert operations I’ve conducted and the detection I’ve done this is the most game changing thing. My future happiness - and possibly Minty’s - rides on this.”  
  
“I know. Good luck.”  
  
Sherlock nodded curtly and they walked over the road and down to the registry office and headed in. John stopped a passing security guard.  
  
“We’re here for the wedding of Araminta Holmes-Mackenzie and  Alan Winters, we’re a bit late, sodding festival traffic, where is it being held please?”  
  
“Up the stairs, first left.”  
  
They ran up the stairs and cautiously opened the door just slightly, enough to eavesdrop. Sherlock let out a long shaky breath. The timing was spot on, they weren’t actually married…yet. No-one noticed the door being opened. Minty and Alan - slightly taller than Sherlock, thinning fair hair, much stockier and in full Highland dress - stood before a smartly dressed woman who was the Registrar. Sherlock could see Mycroft in the front row of seats along with Helen. The room was pretty full and was full of pastel colours jarring alongside black dress jackets and tartans.   
  
“We need to wait for the part where she asks if there’s any impediment blah blah blah. Of course there is. I‘m out here and she‘s in there. _And the rest._ ”  
  
“Got you.”  
  
“If there is any reason why this couple shouldn’t be joined in marriage, please speak now.”  
  
The doors were flung dramatically open and Minty whipped round.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13  
  
No, oh God it can’t be. _There he was_. Her hand fluttered instinctively to her dragon pendant. She was breathing shallow breaths. Her glance flicked round the room and homed in on Mycroft. He turned round to look at Sherlock and then back at her and he had a face like black thunder. Then back to Sherlock. To Alan who looked confused and angry and then back to Mycroft. She smiled Sherlock’s little half smile back at him. Anything that annoyed the shit out of Mycroft was suddenly just fine with her.  
  
She put her hands on her hips.  
  
“Sherlock! Where the actual fuck have you been? I thought you weren’t coming! I want a word with you. NOW.”  
  
The registrar raised her eyebrows.  
  
“I’ll be five minutes, sorry about this. My other half brother is a right pain in the arse.”  
  
“What’s going on Minty? I thought Sherlock hadn’t been invited?”  
  
“Long story. I’ll be a few minutes, sorry."  
  
The room was animated and buzzing with confusion. What the hell is going on…didn’t realise Minty had another half brother…really wish she wouldn’t swear so much, not ladylike at all is she…she walks like a ploughboy in that dress, she’ll burst it by the end of the day…I’m so going to get a dance with that good looking lad at the reception…he looks very like Minty doesn‘t he…God it’s warm in here I need a pint, does anyone want to get a kitty going for the drinks later?  
  
She smiled poisonously at Mycroft and tottered out of the door, following Sherlock out of the building.  
  
She stood facing Sherlock outside. John was leaning against the wall of the registry office, watching discreetly from a distance wishing to give them some space. He silently wished them all the best and kept an eye on the main door in case they were disturbed.  
  
She glared at Sherlock and then without warning, slapped him with considerable force on the right cheek, making him stagger back and rub his cheek. It really stung.  
  
“Christ Araminta, what was that for?”  
  
“That was for barging into my wedding uninvited and for disappearing without as much as a trace for 10 fucking years. WHERE WERE YOU SHERLOCK?”  
  
Her face crumpled into hurt.  
  
“I tried to contact you but you didn’t answer your phone or reply to your texts. I promised I would after a fortnight and I did.”  
  
Hurt turned into bewilderment.  
  
“But I didn’t get anything, not one thing, no voicemail. What was I supposed to do, go chasing after you like a daft wee lassie?”  
  
“Sweetheart, I can prove that I did contact you and I will. We don’t have much time so let‘s not stand here and argue. I’m here because I still love you and I never stopped loving you and I think you feel the same way, despite the occasion. Mycroft told me that he had been invited to the wedding and this has plagued me in the worst way.”  
  
Minty felt queasy and her head was starting to pound painfully, partly due to stress and for not eating anything all day because she had completely lost her appetite. Sherlock was slightly more angular in the face than she remembered and the sweet boy she had loved so wildly was now replaced by a life hardened man - and all the more handsome for it, she thought as she saw the odd grey hair on his temples. She was now aware she was about a dress size bigger than she had been and also that while her head throbbed, her knickers felt like they were melting and he wasn’t even doing anything to her.  
  
Sherlock pulled his wallet out of his black suit pocket and opening it, handed her dragon pendant to Minty.  
  
“I’ve kept this with me all these years. You told me the dragon would protect us, and here we are. You have yours on. Minty, I watched you go into the registry office and it all depended on one thing if I was to go in. I knew if you were wearing it on your wedding day then you still felt something for me.”  
  
“You know I do. I can‘t lie to you of all people.”  
  
Tears were rolling down her face and Sherlock quietly took her in his arms. “It’s going to be alright sweetheart, shhhhh” he murmured.  
  
“Minty, what do you want to do?”  
  
She looked at him, panic in her eyes.  
  
“I don’t know! I can’t go in there, I just can’t. I love you and oh God I hate you all at once, oh fuck fuck fuck! I just want to get out of this stupid fucking dress. Oh God, what a fucking c**t of a mess. Oh don‘t look at me like that. I don‘t HATE you…I hate that I had to get myself into this disaster and that you went away.”  
  
She sat on the pavement, tugged off her shoes and rubbed her feet.  
  
“Oh thank fuck for that. I’m in agony.”  
  
She flung them into the road and a passing car ran over them. She laughed with an edge of hysteria and Sherlock sat down beside her and laughed. She put her head on his shoulder.  
  
Sherlock had noticed immediately that there was something very important missing from Minty and he really had to query it.  
  
“Araminta, where is your dragon tattoo? Where is he?”  
  
“He’s still there. Alan made me cover him up for the day, the make up girl put some sort of concealing foundation on him. That sounds shit and lame does it? I’ve just realised how much. Sherlock, just get me out of here. I really can‘t do this any more.”  
  
“John, come and meet Minty.”  
  
John ambled over and Minty stood up and looked at him quizzically.  
  
“Minty, this is Dr John Watson who is my flatmate and he works with me, I’m a Consultant Detective.”  
  
John extended his hand and Minty shook it. “He made that job up, incidentally.”  
  
Minty giggled. “I can believe that, back in the day he kept getting fired from jobs. I know what you do, big brother, I do read the papers. I always knew you weren’t a fake by the way.”

 

She continued in a whisper. "I always believed that you weren't a fraud and I guess I was right because here you are."

 

Sherlock smiled. “Thank you.”  
  
“Sherlock, my silly shoes are squashed and all of my stuff is in the hotel I was due to have my wedding night in.”  
  
“We can go and get it. I’ve got rooms booked at the Travelodge in Haymarket for us, if you want. Let’s get you back to your hotel room and then we can talk some more.”  
  
“I’m in bare feet. Are you going to give me a piggy back back to the hotel? My dress is too tight to hitch up without everyone getting an eyeful.”  
  
“Nothing I haven’t seen before sweetheart and John‘s a doctor.”  
  
John cleared his throat. “I’ll see if I can flag down a taxi, shall I?”  
  
The taxi drew up and they dived in it just as Alan ran out and ran after them.  
  
“MINTY! MINTY! WHAT THE FUCK? WAIT! YOU CAN’T DO THIS! IT'S OUR WEDDING DAY!”


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14  
  
“Oh shit, I’m going to have to sit down, sorry.”  
  
Sherlock, Minty and John had just got into Minty’s hotel room at the Radisson where her suitcase was as well as her her black satchel with her purse, phone and keys.   
  
She sat on the edge of the bed and put her head in her hands. John and Sherlock both immediately knelt before her and John felt her forehead and took her pulse.   
  
“Did you say you hadn’t eaten all day?”  
  
“Yep, I just couldn’t face food at all. Mum made me toast this morning but I binned it when she wasn’t looking. I’ve had coffee and four whiskies and that’s it. I feel a bit wibbly-woo, I know it‘s my own fault. Oh shit, I can hear my phone going.”  
  
“Do you want your bag? What is that tune, incidentally?”  
  
“Puff the Magic Dragon of course, silly. Aw shite, Alan’s called about 10 times. _Balls._ ”  
  
“You’re eating now, doctor’s orders. I’m going to go and get you something to eat, I’m sure Sherlock can be trusted to look after you. Anything particular you fancy?”  
  
Minty looked at Sherlock and had a fit of the giggles.  
  
“Is it wrong to say your half brother that you haven’t seen for 10 years and who turns up on your wedding day?”  
  
Minty let out a huge honk of a laugh and split her sides. “Oh God, the room’s spinning!”  
  
“Just a bit, but where Sherlock’s concerned, wrong isn’t really a word he understands. Are you still vegetarian?”  
  
“Aye, I guess Sherlock’s told you all the gory details about me and us?”  
  
“Yes and I’m not judging either of you. We’ll talk more about it though, later. You need to eat before we get you over to the Travelodge, I can tell that you’re exhausted which is hardly surprising given all the emotional upheaval you’ve just had. I also know you’re Bipolar so I’m going to keep an eye on you, young lady.”  
  
Minty caught John’s hand. “Thank you. I mean it.”  
  
“You’re welcome. I’ll be back soon.”  
  
“Sweetheart, are you alright?”  
  
“I will be. I need to get out of this dress, it’s so uncomfortable you’ve no idea. Can you undo the zip?”  
  
She stood up and Sherlock unzipped her, bending to kiss the nape of her neck. Minty closed her eyes as she could feel a pulse start to steadily beat between her legs. She wriggled out of the dress and let it fall and turned to pick up the suitcase.  
  
“I’ll do that.”  
  
Sherlock’s mind was reeling at the sight of her standing in ivory bra and pants. She was curvier now and her breasts looked _delicious_ …not that she wasn’t arresting when he knew her before. He fought the urge to press her onto the bed…he would wait and see if she still wanted him. Ten years was a lifetime away. He had been without her for so long that just to be near her was more than enough.  
  
Minty popped the lock on the suitcase and started to fling clothes out in all directions.

  
“For fuck’s sake, look at all this shit. It’s all SHIT. All normal boring lady-clothes.  I don’t want to wear that, or that or that any more.”  
  
Minty turned angrily to Sherlock.  
  
“Do you want to to know what Alan said to me after we got engaged - please note that I said after, not before. He said that my cool clothes and piercings weren’t “age appropriate” and he said I should dress more my age. It was the piercings that  went first after moaning and nagging then my New Rocks then my goth tops. He very magnanimously allowed me to wear band t-shirts for gigs, wasn’t that so generous? He is a C**T. He was alright until we got engaged then he started being a complete control freak in private. And he wonders why we hadn’t slept together for about four months. _He repels me._ ”  
  
“Minty, I can’t actually believe you allowed yourself to get involved with someone obviously so unworthy of you. I’m disappointed frankly, very disappointed.”  
  
Minty jabbed a finger at Sherlock.  
  
“Don’t you DARE judge me! You weren’t there. Alan gave me a chance at being normal. But normal doesn’t work for the likes of us does it? None of this is normal. I need to get dressed in something I suppose, and you can keep your fat mouth zipped.”  
  
“If John wasn’t about to come back, I would beg you to stay undressed.”  
  
Minty smiled. “Don’t you think I’m a fat lump? I’m a dress size bigger these days.”  
  
Sherlock opened his arms and she sank into them, sighing contentedly.  
  
“You’re even more beautiful than I remember. And as I would say you were probably only about a size 8 before, you’ve simply got the body of a woman now, a size 10 or 12? You’re in full bloom. But please do put some clothes on because I’m getting an erection just looking at you.”  
  
Minty put on blue jeans and a dark green smock top and green Converse, never taking her eyes off him, delighted she could still make him feel like this.   
  
John knocked on the door and Sherlock went to let him in.   
  
“I’ve got a cheese savoury sandwich, a packet of Quavers and a carton of Ribena for the patient.”  
  
“Brilliant, thanks a lot. I’ll have these as we go, I really don’t want to hang about. It’s a bit weird to be in my honeymoon suite, urgh. I just want a soak in the bath so I can get all this muck off my face and I want to see my dragon again because I miss him so.”  
  
“I want to see your dragon, Minty. You’re not you without it.”  
  
“We’ll get your things together, you just sit and eat” said John.  
  
Minty wired into her sandwich contentedly sitting on the edge of the bed while Sherlock and John packed her clothes and made sure nothing was missing, Minty giving instructions between munches.   
  
The door swung open and all three faces turned to the door.  
  
“So that’s where you’re hiding, you wee bitch. I think you owe me an explanation Minty! Can’t you fight your own battles anymore? You have to get your brother to do it for you. How dare you run off and leave me in there? Have you any idea how humiliated I feel? Do you?”  
  
Sherlock calmly walked over to Alan like a jaguar stalking his prey.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**  
  
“I visit Edinburgh and I meet a fine stereotypical depiction of the Scottish male - half pissed, vulgar, thuggish and wearing a skirt. It really couldn’t be more perfect.”  
  
“I should knock you into next week, you English bastard.”  
  
“I’d like to see you try.”  
  
Sherlock radiated pure malevolence and Alan took a step back.   
  
“I just want to speak to Minty please. Alone.”  
  
John had moved protectively beside Minty and Minty gripped his hand. She knew what Alan could be like in his cups and she watched the two of them square up to each other warily.  
  
“I don’t think so. I’m not altogether sure you can be trusted to speak to my sister in a civilised manner. Whatever you have to say to Minty, you can say to her here with me present.”  
  
“Fine. Minty, why did you run out of our wedding like that? I thought you were happy about getting married? You were all excited about it. I really don’t understand.”  
  
Minty stood up and walked over to Alan, stomach churning.  
  
“That’s just it, Alan. You don’t understand me.”  
  
“Sorry?”  
  
“I think you love me, but you love a particular edition of me that you’ve tried to pressure me into being. You like the fact I’m a successful artist, that you can brag about me to your graphic designer mates and I also think you like my money - “  
  
“That’s below the belt, Minty.”  
  
“Shut up Alan and let her speak.”  
  
Alan turned to Sherlock, red with self-righteous rage.  
  
“You speak to me like that again and I’ll fucking have you, you c**t.”  
  
Minty smirked and Alan saw it.  
  
“And you can stop smiling you bloody witch. You’ve made me a laughing stock in that registry office and maybe I’m better without you, you’re nothing but a fucking nutter anyway with your dragons and your moodswings and you haven’t fucked me in months anyway, not that you were ever that good at it anyway - “  
  
Minty flinched and tears slid down her face, hurt beyond repair, turning ashen.  
  
Sherlock’s malevolence turned into icy rage. He produced his gun, unlocked it and aimed it at Alan.  
  
“And if you speak to Araminta like that ever again I will have no hesitation in killing you.”  
  
John piped up “He means it. I really wouldn’t push him. He’s a sociopath.”  
  
“Who the Hell are you anyway?”  
  
“I’m making sure that my flatmate doesn’t turn your head into strawberry jam.”  
  
Alan’s bluster evaporated. “Okay, I’m sorry. Minty, I’m sorry. Really.”  
  
“Alan, I really wish it hadn’t come to this but you’ve just proved I can’t marry you or live with you. You’re in love with someone else who isn’t really me. I don’t think you’re a bad person, just not what I need. I’m so sorry, I really am and I didn’t mean to hurt you or embarrass you earlier. It’s maybe better we know now rather than get divorced later on.”  
  
Minty was wiping away tears that wouldn’t stop falling and John put a comforting arm round her.   
  
“Minty, do you mean that?”  
  
“Aye. I do.”  
  
“But I thought you wanted to get married?”  
  
  
“You were always keener than me. I went along with it because I thought it might make our relationship better. It just papered over the cracks, that’s all.”  
  
Minty paused, waiting for the tears to stop a little and continued.  
  
“It takes two. It’s not all your fault, I wanted stability and to feel normal and I thought you could give me that, you were different before we asked me to marry you.”  
  
“I’m still the same Alan, Minty. What can I do to make it better? Tell me.”  
  
“That’s it. You wanted to change me too much and I was compromised.”  
  
“But you still dressed like a reject from a Marilyn Manson video, it’s ridiculous in a grown woman. It might have been cute as a student but it looked fucking stupid.”  
  
“Alan.” John said warningly.  
  
“Better to look like an individual than to look like a fucking boring c**t. Alan, _just go away_.”  
  
Minty was tired and just wanted all of this to stop. She closed her eyes and put her head in her hands.  
  
“Alan, I was a doctor in the army. Minty has hardly eaten all day and has been drinking on an empty stomach. I think you should just go now before you make her feel triggered and ill.”  
  
“I’m not getting anywhere anyway. Fine. It‘s your loss. You can collect your stuff as soon as possible and get the fuck out of my life. You make me sick.”  
  
He glared at Sherlock who still had his gun aimed at him and slammed the door shut.  
  
 Sherlock lowered his gun and looked at Minty.  
  
“Sweetheart, it’s going to be okay. I’ll look after you. I would’ve shot him if he had said anything else spectacularly offensive.”  
  
“Sherlock, just get me the fuck out of here. I feel really horrible.”

 

Minty was later lying in a hot bath in her room at the Travelodge and her eyes were closed. She had shut the door to Sherlock saying she just wanted some time to clear her head and would he call her Mum? Sherlock had stood outside the door like a small boy on the naughty step until John had gently explained that it was nothing personal towards him, Minty really did need some me-time and the best thing he could do was to call Helen and ask her to come to the Travelodge as Minty had asked. She had scrubbed herself clean of makeup and her dragon tattoo was proudly on her arm. She stroked her arm reassuringly. The dragon had showed her the way and brought Sherlock back to her, she knew.  
  
There was a knock on the door.  
  
“Can I come in please?”  
  
“Yep.”  
  
Sherlock came in and sat on the floor beside the bath.  
  
“I don’t want to disturb you sweetheart. I’ve called Helen for you and she’s frantic with worry and not terribly impressed with me, it has to be said. She was at the hotel waiting for you and then went home. Mycroft is furious from what I can make out and he’s tried my mobile several times but the silent function is a wonderful thing. She’ll be here in about quarter of an hour.”  
  
“Thanks. I feel a bit better but I’m so tired. Look, my dragon is back!”  
  
Sherlock leaned over and traced it with his fingers. “I’m delighted to see him again. Forget Alan, he’s an idiot.”  
  
Minty smiled wanly. “He never liked my dragon or my dragon art. He said it was childish rubbish but my dragon is my psyche. It doesn’t matter now.”  
  
“You know something? You’re still so beautiful naked.”  
  
Minty sat up in the bath and smiled.  
  
“You’re not so bad yourself. I am disappointed in you though.”  
  
“Why?”  
  
“You haven’t so much as kissed me yet.”  
  
“I hadn’t wanted to presume anything, Araminta. Ten years is a very long time. That’s why I booked us all separate rooms, plus Edinburgh isn’t that large a city. Even I can see that someone who was supposed to be married today sharing a bedroom with her half brother might appear to be rather odd.”  
  
Minty laughed and laughed. “Oh Sherlock, what are we like. We’ve got a lot to talk about though. You still actually haven’t proved you did try to contact me yet and I still want to kiss you. And - have you stopped smoking?”  
  
“Yes! Have you?”  
  
“Aye, but I’m gagging for a fag big style. I’ll settle for a kiss though.”  
  
Sherlock bent over and leaned in to kiss her bumping noses at first with nervous laughter then Minty twined her fingers damply into Sherlock’s soft curls and she felt his tongue play with hers. He paused long enough to moan “Ten years I’ve longed for you, Araminta. Ten lonely long years.”  
  
“We’d better stop. My Mum is coming round in a minute…you still make me feel like nothing else matters.”  
  
“Nothing else does. Can we continue this at a mutually agreeable juncture?”  
  
“Oh course. I will look forward to it, Mr Holmes. I hope you‘re as good as I remember.”  
  
“I will do my very best to ensure your complete satisfaction, Miss Holmes-Mackenzie.”  
  
They stared into each others eyes, both desperate to take things further.  
  
John shouted “Guys, Helen’s called. She’s at reception. Get decent, will you?”  
  
“Oh flower, I’ve been going out of my mind with worry” Helen cried when she saw Minty and hugged her tightly. “Are you alright?”  
  
“I’m fine Mum. Nothing that a hot bath didn’t sort out.. Sherlock and John have been looking after me. Alan came to the Radisson and was pretty nasty but I guess I probably deserved it.”  
  
“No, you didn’t sweetheart. I reiterate that he would’ve been a corpse by now if he had continued being so disgustingly coarse.”  
  
Helen looked alarmed. “Sherlock brought his gun with him. He’s not joking” John explained. “He’s a Consultant Detective, it’s a perk of the job.”  
  
“Oh God.”  
  
“I think I’ll make us all a cup of tea” John said hurriedly.  
  
“It’s okay Mum. Sherlock was just looking out for me.”  
  
“ _I bet he was._ Are you definitely finished?”  
  
“Aye. By the time he left my skin was crawling. He gives me the fucking heebs frankly, he said a whole bunch of really horrible stuff that I don’t want to repeat. I’m going to have to collect all of my stuff from his house. Shit - I guess I’m now homeless aren’t I? FUCK.”  
  
“No, you’re not. You can come and stay with me and John in our flat in London. It’s small but you can have my bedroom for as long as you want it. It’ll give you time to get your head together and feel better, I hope. You don’t have to worry about anything sweetheart. I will look after you.”  
  
“And Helen, I’m a doctor. I’ll keep an eye on Minty. I know that she’s been ill in the past, you don’t have to worry about her, really.”  
  
“Don’t I?”  
  
“Pardon?” said Minty, not liking or trusting Helen’s tone of voice. She had a really bad feeling about this and darted a warning look at Sherlock.  
  
“Minty…I know. I’m your Mother, I gave birth to you, brought you up single handedly, I can read you like a book. I’ve got Mum-Dar as you call it. I remember that night Sherlock came for tea ten years ago. I watched the pair of you closely and couldn‘t quite believe what I was seeing. You were hanging on each other’s every word and Minty went to the loo and when she came back, Sherlock was all lit up like a Christmas tree. I suspected that something pretty terrible had happened in London to cause you to try to kill yourself - Araminta, did Mycroft catch you and Sherlock….in a compromising situation?”  
  
Minty went beetroot red and started at the floor. Sherlock took her hand and kissed it.  
  
“You’ve just answered that question I think. For God’s sake…it’s illegal. I tried to stop it in the only way I knew how - “  
  
“How did you try to stop it Mum? Tell me!”  
  
“When I brought you home because you weren’t eating or sleeping, I deliberately deleted all of Sherlock’s texts and voicemails. I thought it was best that you both had a clean break. I also returned a letter Sherlock wrote and asked him not to contact you again. I didn’t believe Mycroft’s story for one minute.”  
  
Sherlock grabbed Helen’s shoulders.  
  
“Helen, I can’t believe you did that. Have you any idea how much pain and hurt you have caused the pair of us? I had a breakdown too, I smashed up Mycroft’s living room! How could you be so stupid? Minty could have got married to a man she didn’t really love today. We are made for each other! I want no other woman as long as I live and I can’t live without her. I am perfectly aware that it’s illegal but I wasn’t brought up with Minty so being a blood relation is a technicality as far as I am concerned. I will do anything to make Minty happy.”   
  
“Sherlock, back off” John said firmly.  
  
“Sorry, I’m so sorry Helen. It’s been a fraught day for us all I think. Minty, give me a minute, you need to read the letter you were meant to read 10 years ago.”  
  
Sherlock disappeared, giving Helen a dirty look.  Minty took John’s cup of tea.  
  
“How did you know what I take?”  
  
“Sherlock told me pretty much every bit of minutiae about you. Trust me, the man is besotted.”

  
Sherlock came back into the room with the letter and gave it to Minty who read it and sat down on her bed, fresh tears rolling down her face.  
  
“Oh fuck, I have done nothing but bloody cry today. You’d have done all that for me?”  
  
“Yes sweetheart. I was quite prepared to do that.”  
  
“Mum, read this and try telling me that this whole situation is all wrong.”  
  
Helen read the letter and gave it to Minty. “You’re asking me to condone something that is illegal in this country. Dress it up how you like but it‘s still incest. It‘s not exactly what I wanted for you, flower.”  
  
“Mum, I’m not asking you to but you’re going to have to let me live my life as I see fit. I’ve been through utter Hell. I’ve been with so many men since Sherlock, desperately hoping that one might be as special or that I might forget about him but it didn’t work. I thought if Mycroft thought I was a two-bob slapper, than I might as well behave like one. Going to the registry office in the car today I couldn’t stop thinking of him. I’m sorry Mum but I love Sherlock and he loves me and I’m going to London with him.”  
  
She put her arms round him and he stroked her hair. “We’ll be fine, you’ll see. If we are discreet, we can do this. We’re not harming anyone and Mycroft will not dare say anything, the scandal would probably damage his glittering career in Government irrecovably.”  
  
Helen sighed sadly. “I’m not happy about this one bit but you’re both adults and I can’t stop you.”  
  
Minty flung her arms around Helen. “I’m sorry Mum but my mind’s made up.”  
  
“I’ve bought a train ticket for us tomorrow at 12. You can think about what you need to immediately take with you to London and anything you can’t, you can get down there.”  
  
Minty beamed. “I’m going to go to Camden Market as soon as possible and get my nose and lip repierced and I’m also going to buy myself a whole new badass wardrobe. The old Minty is back in full effect. Watch out London!”


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**  
  
Minty, John and Sherlock were essentially heaving the bags and suitcases of Minty’s life onto the Edinburgh-London train and were aching and tired. Helen was standing on the platform with her heart silently breaking, not wishing Minty to live with her half-brother as lovers but knowing that she had to allow Minty to live her life and to have some chance at having happiness. She had wanted Minty to have a proper wedding the day before, to have a settled life, to perhaps have children one day and with the train pulling out, this would go forever. But…she had watched Sherlock with Minty and the man undeniably adored her. Helen prayed that would be enough.  
  
Minty bounded off the train and over to Helen. “Whew! I think we’re all done. I think I’ve half-killed Sherlock and John though. Can you please get Uncle Sandy to pick up the big canvasses and mood boards from Alan as soon as possible? I’ve got the sketch books but I NEED everything else, the paints and whatnot don’t matter, they can be replaced. He’s in such a pissy mood I fully expect them to be destroyed or on Ebay.”  
  
“That’s fine, flower. I don’t think Sandy ever really took to Alan, that’ll be no problem and he won’t argue with him. I’ll phone him later. What do you want done with all the clothes you didn‘t want?”  
  
“Take them to the charity shop please. They just remind me too much of being something I’m not. I can get what I need in London.    Sherlock and I are going to Camden Market on a spree.”  
  
Sherlock appeared, John behind him. “Sweetheart, you can go about naked for all I care, but we’ll go to Camden Market if you wish.”  
  
Helen raised her eyebrows and Minty snorted. “Behave.”   
  
“Is my laptop safe?”  
  
“It’s on the seat next to yours. We’d better get on the train.”  
  
Helen handed Minty a Marks and Spencers carrier bag. “There’s cartons of juice, ham sandwiches, cheese ones for you and crisps in there.”   
  
“Thanks Mum…Mum, I’m sorry.”  
  
Helen hugged her tightly. “Take care of yourself, phone me when you get there.” She raised her head. “Look after her, Sherlock. She’s special.”  
  
“I know. Come on Minty, let’s go home to Baker Street.”  
  
“Yes please.”  
  
They boarded the train and settled down, Minty double and triple checking that she had everything and waved to Helen as the train pulled away. John opened a copy of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo that he had bought in the WH Smiths at the station and began to read. Sherlock pulled a face and Minty said “They’re good books but I’m the original.”  
  
“Indeed you are.” Sherlock smoothed out a copy of the Times, Minty shut her eyes and dozed off because she was worn out.  
  
Her phone vibrated and she groaned. What now?  
  
 **I am desperate to get you alone. SH**

  
**Sherlock, behave. John might see you!  
  
We have ten years to make up for sweetheart. SH  
  
I know.   
  
You will have my bedroom but I will come to you when John is asleep.**

**  
You are still so beautiful naked. I am going to kiss your tattoo then all the way round your body, especially your breasts. They are fuller and rounder than I remember. SH  
  
I know you are getting wet. I can see it in your face. You’re biting your lower lip. SH  
  
Sherlock, stop teasing me. It’s a crowded train and there’s nothing we can do about it. Are you going hard?  
  
Absolutely. SH  
  
Shocking waste.   
  
I am going to bury my face between your legs, I remember how much you loved that and how you tasted of musk and promises. Do you want my tongue inside you? SH  
  
Sherlock, for God’s sake. I’m soaking. YES.  
  
Good. I’m enjoying watching your reactions and knowing you are open and ready for me. Stop being so distracting, I’m going to read The Times. SH  
  
I didn’t start this you infuriating sod!  
  
Sherlock?  
  
BIG BROTHER REPLY TO YOUR TEXTS!  
  
Laterz. SH  
  
You are so dead by the way.  
  
You are secretly enjoying being teased. I will stop pestering you, get some sleep you look tired. Love you. SH.  
  
I can’t. Wide awake now you pillock. Love you too xx  
  
I mean it. Get some rest I want you ready for later SH**  
  
Sherlock lowered the newspaper and winked at her. Minty shot him a look and putting her fatigue aside as she was thoroughly rattled (and too aroused to doze), started to sketch John as the train shot past the Pentland Hills, away from Minty’s familiarity and onto a new life. Eventually at around  about Newcastle she dozed off.  
  
After 10 minutes of John and Sherlock lugging Minty’s luggage up the stairs, sweating and swearing, Minty put the kettle on for tea, marvelling at the mess and curious to see Sherlock’s home for the first time.   
  
“Where do you want all this Minty?”  
  
“I don’t know John. Sherlock?”  
  
“Put it all in my room for now. Incidentally, don’t be alarmed if you find body parts in the fridge, experiments you see. And I like to shoot the wall if I‘m bored.”  
  
Minty burst out giggling. “Oh this is going to be fun. Two questions - can I draw the body parts and can I paint you a portrait of my scumbag ex fiance for you to shoot?”  
  
“Of course to both questions. Would you like to see your bedroom?”  
  
“I  rather think I do.” Minty was very interested in the look in Sherlock’s eyes all of a sudden.  
  
She followed him in as he brought in her suitcases and bags and then he tackled her onto the bed, stroking your hair and kissing her until they were both aching for more.  
  
“When my flatmate goes to bed, I am going to wait an appropriately decent length of time and I will get into bed with you. Do you think you will be awake?”  
  
“Even if I’m not, wake me up. Thank you - for all of this.”  
  
“Thank you for changing your plans and coming to London. I’m difficult, normal people are boring and I fully expect you’ll slap me several times more. But I love you and I have waited 10 years for you so I will do my best not too much of an annoying English c**t as you would succinctly put it.”  
  
“You are an annoying English c**t. But you’re MY annoying English c**t, brother with benefits.”  
  
Sherlock kissed her again. “I like that. I’d better go before I am forced to ravish you before bedtime. Did you put the kettle on?”  
  
Minty spent her time before bedtime unpacking, eating Dominos pizza with John and Sherlock and changing the sheets on her bed after sniffing them and declaring them to be a bit fusty. At 9:30pm she shuffled into the living room in her purple slipper boots, black Nightmare Before Christmas dressing gown and matching pyjamas and said night night to John and Sherlock, hugging John and after a moment’s hestitation and darting a quick look at John to gauge his mood, kissed Sherlock quickly on the mouth. She gave a little wave and disappeared.  
  
“Sherlock…I don’t mind if you share a bed with her. Honestly.”  
  
“I don’t want Minty to feel at all uncomfortable and plus, we have to keep up appearances of being purely a brother and sister. I still haven’t broached the subject with Mrs Hudson yet.”  
  
“What are you going to say to her?”  
  
“I’m working on it but if there is a problem, I will find Minty and I somewhere else to live. I’ll be fine on the couch.”  
  
Sherlock was fidgety and impatient and John becoming sick of Sherlock pacing the living room restlessly, went to bed knowing that he only wanted to be alone with Minty. Sherlock put pillows on the couch and flung a duvet over himself, staring into space for what felt like aeons for him. He then padded to John’s room and lingered at the door and hearing loud snoring, padded to Minty’s room and quietly let himself in. He could just see her silhouette and lingered for a few moments…she was finally here with him. If he wasn’t such an atheist he would almost believe in God…but he smiled…her dragon. Dear, wonderful, fanciful, head in the clouds Araminta…but she said the dragon was her psyche…that made more sense perhaps. He touched where she had slapped him and winced as it was painful. He once said that he had no friends and that love was a disadvantage yet the two people he cared most about  and who utterly challenged this were here in this flat at this moment. He wasn’t sure yet how he felt about being wrong but it didn’t feel bad. He could concede this one.  
  
He gently lifted the duvet…fresh sheets, fresh start. He slid into the bed and spooned into her, breathing in her patchoui smell and closing his eyes as his erection hardened. He slid his hand up her top and his thumb gently worked a nipple. Minty stirred and stretched. “Mmmmm…Sherlock” she said drowsily. She flipped over and pressed herself against him, mouth opening, whimpering as his tongue played with hers. She ran her fingers through his hair and she slid her hand into his pyjama bottoms, eager for the smooth silky hardness. “Minty, you’ll bring me off too quickly” he panted. She slid her hand out and threw the duvet back to undo his pyjama jacket.”I have to see you” she whispered. “Put a light on.” He snapped the bedside light on and she blinked and froze in the glare then saw him smiling. “Oh my beautiful man. You’ve come back to me.” “I’m never leaving you again.”   
  
He slid off her pyjama top and laying her down, he reverently kissed her dragon tattoo, bringing tears to her eyes which helped to undo a little of the hurt and pain of ten years of one night stands, too much drinking, lurching from one unsuitable man to another and finally to Alan who slowly dismantled who she was. But now here HE was…kissing her again, lips almost bruising and kissing her neck, making her rise off the bed…she loved that…those full lips kissing her breasts, sucking on her nipples…she was writhing by now and gasped aloud when his gentle, slim fingers slid inside her, first one, then two, then three, in and out. He stopped to trail his tongue down her waist, kissing, kissing, nuzzling the nest of dark curls until he flicked her clitoris and she had to suppress a violent OH JESUS. She wriggled out. of her pyjams bottoms completely “You still taste of musk and promises” he murmured, working her with his tongue, darting, probing, gripping her hips as she cradled his head. She could hear how wet she was as he licked her hard until she threw her head back and silently came, wishing to scream but not daring to. He stretched out beside her and she could taste herself on his mouth. “I love making you come” he whispered. “I can see your dragon then”. “Make love to me Sherlock, wipe out the last ten years, please.” “Wait.” He fumbled in the drawer of his bedside cabinet and pulled out a packet of 12 Durex Extra Safe with a theatrical flourish and a cheeky grin. Minty dissolved into helpless giggles. “Oh I remember that!” Sherlock undressed completely and Minty slid the condom on him, wrapping her legs and arms round him as he entered her, kissing, looking into each others eyes silently, not wishing to break the dragon’s spell. “I’ve dreamt of you Araminta, I’ve dreamt of this. I love you” he moaned as he thrust into her, his mind whirling with her nearness and then into oblivion. She opened her eyes and saw that a tear was tricking down his cheek. “It’s okay, we’re going to be okay.” she said softly. “I love you.” “I love you too. Lady of the Dragon.”  
  
The next morning Sherlock got up, put his pyjamas back on at about 6 and went back to the couch. Nothing stirred in 221B Baker Street until Minty headed out of her bedroom, tying her dressing gown on, yawning hugely and went slap bang into Mrs Hudson who had yoohooed her arrival at 10am looking neat as a pin in her dark blue dress and matching low heels.   
  
“Oh God, I’m so sorry! Are you Mrs Hudson?”  
  
“Yes dear. Who are you?”  
  
“I’m Minty, Sherlock’s half sister. Pleased to meet you.” they shook hands awkwardly. Minty knew that she looked like she had been dragged through a hedge backwards.  
  
“Sherlock? Are you there dear?”  
  
Sherlock came into sight, scratching his head and yawning in his blue pyjamas, brightening up instantly.  
  
“Splendid Mrs Hudson, you’ve met my sister Araminta. I’ll put the kettle on, we need to have a little chat.”


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**  
  
“I think that actually went better than expected” said Minty as she walked down Baker Street with Sherlock. She had waved away Sherlock’s suggestion of a taxi to Camden Market calling him a lazy big lump and wasn’t it just a beautiful morning for a walk to the Tube station? John had watched them walk away and noted how similar they were, Minty almost as tall as Sherlock, talking constantly with her hands, her long hair straighter but as dark as his, both of them very striking to look at. Minty had noticed John up at the window and blew him a kiss. He had never seen Sherlock quite so animated and happy as that morning and was a little cross with himself for almost feeling…left out? Jealous? Nose out of joint? Excluded? He remembered reading Helen’s letter to Sherlock regarding Minty’s suicide attempt and  immediately felt deeply ashamed. When he had got up and saw Minty making toast in a baggy plain black shirt, bare feet, wet hair and blue jeans - the shirt pinched from Sherlock as she said all her skanky clothes were too colourful but that would be changed later - she was tired but radiant, all banter and sparkling eyes -  and he realised that whatever happened between her going to bed and getting up was transformative.  Sherlock had been quieter but his eyes had followed Minty around constantly and they shone with love.  
  
“You certainly put across a convincing argument, Araminta. Very structured, poised and succinct. And you summarised it very well. You’d have made a good barrister, don’t laugh at me, I’m serious. I couldn’t have talked Mrs Hudson round any better.”  
  
“Och, away! I’m not bad I have to admit and I can manipulate when I need to. I’ve talked myself into so much shit over the years and talked my way out of it again.” She winked. “I talk a good game. I like her a lot and I genuinely didn’t want to alarm her but at the same time, I thought she deserved the truth. I felt bad as Hell when she was welling up regarding the suicide attempt,  it was starting me off too. I don’t think she’s entirely comfortable - who would be -  but she didn’t demand we vacate the flat immediately and gave me a hug so I think we’re in there. The only stipulation she made is a mere technicality and can be easily accommodated.”  
  
“But of course. We’re not sleeping together in her flat…and I don’t intend for us to be doing much actual sleeping, I was actually thinking of more of last night’s incredible…Araminta, you were magnificent. I really do have to say that.”  
  
Minty punched the air and did a little dance in the middle of the street, making Sherlock chuckle.  
  
"You and me, we got a baaaaaaaaaaaad romance!”  
  
“I  also particularly admired how you parried the question of body parts in the fridge - “As long as they’re human I don’t mind because I’m vegetarian, it would be a lot worse if it was steak!” Well played, sweet sister, well played indeed. I would kiss you right now but people would talk.”  
  
“You can stand me a coffee later.”  
  
“Done. What exactly are you planning to do in Camden Market apart from purchasing their entire stock of alterative black clothes so that you can look like the real Minty I adore?”  
  
“I’m going to go to Metal Militia to buy some band t-shirts, I’ve only got five that Alan so kindly allowed me to keep, the arse. I need some New Rocks too, I fucking broke my heart having to put them on Ebay, I  actually cried boxing them up to be posted. My jeans are fine so that’s done and all my underwear is black so that’s good. I need some hoodies so maybe a couple and anything else I could pop into a Primark for. I also want to find a decent piercer so I can get my lip and nose redone. Oh - and if I see an advert for studio space with a  rolling monthly contract I’ll check it out. I’ve given myself the next three weeks off thinking that I was getting married and having a honeymoon, but the illustrations for the third Dragon Clan book needs to be started soon, I know that Kathleen’s sent her manuscript to the publishers and as the other two were such big sellers, it’s a dead cert. Oh, and your job is to escort me about, carry my bags and do the moaning man thing about women’s clothes shopping. And just be generally gorgeous.”  
  
“I will but try. Incidentally, is all your underwear black? This needs to be verified by me seeing you in your underwear and me making it off at mutually agreeable appointments. Actually…I’ve thought of something. You need a studio with the following - good lighting, a rolling monthly contract, secure entry, privacy and a couch.”  
  
“A couch? You’ve lost me there.”  
  
“Minty, I’m disappointed. Your loving and ever attentive big brother is going to visit you at your studio to make sure you get home safely and is going to make love to you on the couch before we go home at night.”  
  
“That sounds seriously wrong when you say it out loud but I love it. Right,  I need a couch. I’ll be your Cherry Pie any day!”  
  
“Sorry?”  
  
“She’s my Cherry Pie…put a smile on your face ten miles wide…it’s a song by Warrant. I’ll Youtube the video for you later. I think you’d like the girl in the video, she’s got  great tits. John probably would too actually.”  
  
“Not as good as yours. Your breasts are exquisite.”  
  
“Aw shucks.”  
  
She unbuttoned the shirt one more button knowing that he would appreciate the extra cleavage flash. He did.  
  
“Remember my old futon in my flat?”  
  
“How could I forget?”  
  
“Well, maybe you could get a futon which might be comfier than sleeping on the couch, one that would roll up neatly?”  
  
“Good thinking.”  
  
"Can I tell you something?”  
  
“Please do.”  
  
“Do you remember that time you tried on some trousers in the shop in Camden Market?”  
  
“Yep.”  
  
“The reason I had to get out of the shop quickly was because I could see you changing, there was a gap in the curtain. I was mortified beyond belief because firstly, it was private and secondly, I started to have an erection. It still makes me cringe.”  
  
“Dirty bugger! Can I tell you something else?”  
  
“What?”  
  
“I knew you were watching me and I loved it. I made sure there was a gap in the curtain. It was such a turn on, you have no idea.”  
  
“What? You absolute trollop - “  
  
He made to whack her backside but she laughed and ran down the street like a whippet, Sherlock running after her.  
  
And later, when Sherlock was sipping tea from a paper Starbucks cup, watching the riot of impressions and characters that is Camden Market pass by, he turned round and slowly smiled as Minty called his name. She sauntered out of the open door of the tattoo studio, eyes too bright from the pain of having both her nose and the middle of her bottom lip done at the same time and she paused, hands on hips; the surgical steel claiming back who she was and it was written in the tilt of her head and aura of self possession.  
  
And he was going to tell her that she could keep the shirt.  It was Dolce and Gabanna but she filled it much better than he ever could and that cleavage made him want to sink to his knees and beg her to fuck him there and then.  
  
“Welcome back Araminta Holmes-Mackenzie, Lady of the Dragon. You have been _missed_.”  
  
And later all was calm at 221B Baker Street. There was takeaway Chinese for tea, Sherlock had announced that he had Serious Testing To Do and that he would not be interrupted for at least two hours so Minty had disappeared into her bedroom to organise her new clothes and make her bedroom as she liked it (messy, artistic and a bat cave of incense, dragons and mayhem) and John was pootling about the internet on his laptop and listening to Pink Floyd on headphones.  
  
There was a insistent buzzing of the entry phone. Sherlock raised his head and realising that John was obliviously nodding his head in time to something  and Led Zeppelin were playing  loudly from Minty’s bedroom, it would be up to him to deal with it. Sighing loudly, he left his microscope and picked up the receiver.  
  
“Good evening little brother. I thought I’d pay you and Araminta a little visit.”  
  
Mycroft. What an utter nuisance. He thought of Minty who would be very worried by this.  
  
“What do you want, Mycroft? Didn’t the fact that I have studiously ignored your telephone calls not give you the message that you can piss off?”  
  
“Sadly not. Now, are you going to let me in?”  
  
Balls. “John? JOHN! It’s Mycroft and he’s come to pester us, how thoroughly bothersome. Will you let him in while I go and get Minty?”  
  
“Right. Do you need a minute with her?”  
  
“Yes. I don’t want her to panic. Would you?”  
  
“Sure.”  
  
Another buzz, and another. Sherlock went to Minty’s bedroom, knocked twice and let himself in. Minty was sorting through the piles of black clothing on her bed and putting it into drawers, warbling along to Led Zeppelin’s 4 Symbols CD. She looked up and smiled. “Hey you! Did you miss me?”  
  
Sherlock looked tense and he was fidgeting.  
  
“Sherlock, what’s wrong?”  
  
“Mycroft’s at the door.”  
  
“FUCK! Oh shit, what are we going  - “  
  
Sherlock gave her a quick hug. “Let me handle this, sweetheart. Don’t worry, it’s going to be fine.”  
  
Minty’s sense of panic was rising. “Sherlock, he makes me feel sick.”  
  
“I know, I know. Trust me?”  
  
Minty took a deep breath and nodded. Sherlock kissed her on the cheek, knowing her lip would still be tender.  
  
“We can do this, right?”  
  
“Right. Come on. John? Buzz him in please?”  
  
Minty and Sherlock stood in the middle of the living room, tense, arms crossed, staring at the door, expressions almost identical. John blinked and told Mycroft to come on up. Christ, they could almost be dizygotic twins.  
  
Mycroft walked into the room, all suited superiority, determined to make his siblings feel as small as possible for the embarrassment they had caused.  
  
“Good evening little brother and sister, John. I trust I’m not disturbing you this evening?”  
  
“We’re not the one that’s disturbed” growled Minty mutinously.  
  
Mycroft smiled a little false grin. “Araminta, as wilful as ever, I see.”  
  
“Bored now. What do you want Mycroft?” said Sherlock pointedly.  
  
“I have came to give you both a dressing down. Have you any idea how awkward the situation concerning Araminta’s wedding was? No, I don’t imagine you do. The questions and the inconvenience are just the start of it - “  
  
“I should imagine Mycroft, that Minty marrying a man she didn’t really love might have been far more inconvenient for her and would have caused her far more problems in the long run than a bit of idle gossip and some uneaten wedding cake.”  
  
“And does Minty plan to live here in incest with you?”  
  
“I have Sherlock’s bedroom and Sherlock has the couch. Here, come and see for yourself.”  
  
Minty grabbed Mycroft’s hand and dragged him to her room, kicking her door open.  
  
“See? There’s all my stuff and if you check the couch - “  
  
Minty yanked on his hand and took him over to the couch, indicating towards the pillows and duvet stashed beside it.  
  
“Happy now?”  
  
“Do you expect me to actually believe that?”  
  
“Fuck what you think, Mycroft.”  
  
“Is this actually achieving anything Mycroft apart from making our sister nervous and swear like a docker? I would ask you to consider that you nearly destroyed two lives 10 years ago. Please just allow us to live quietly. We do not need your approval and if you are going to be difficult, I will no longer have an older brother. Besides, if you did anything, the scandal would blow your career apart. I have survived scandal and conjecture, remember. You will not be able to.”  
  
Mycroft was pulled up short by this. As much as Sherlock irritated him beyond belief…he was still his brother. And he was right, curse him.  
  
“Are you ensuring that there will be no children of this….union?”  
  
“You nosey prick - “  
  
“Minty, calm down.  You are biting and this is exactly what he wants, I thought you would be clever enough to see this. Minty has a contraceptive implant and I continue to use condoms.”  
  
“There is always a risk though. Firstly neither of you are responsible to be parents and secondly, a child could be deformed.”  
  
“I agree” said Minty, thinking on her feet. “I will be sterilised. I have never wanted a family and all I want is Sherlock so it’s fine. I imagine John would be able to advise -”  
  
All three of them looked at her. _Oh Araminta, you clever, wonderful woman_ thought Sherlock. _You would do that for me?_  
  
“No Minty, I’ll do it. John, please go on your laptop, look up a vasectomy and tell me how much it would be to get it done privately. I think it would be far less invasive on me than on Minty and she has work commitments to honour.”  
  
John picked up his laptop and sat down. “Marie Stopes will do it for about £390 and offer a yearly sperm test to make sure you’re not producing live sperm.”  
  
“I’ll book one. Problem? What problem?”  
  
Minty was mulling this over and smiled maliciously at Mycroft.  
  
“You know something, you owe us big style, particularly Sherlock.”  
  
“I beg your pardon?”  
  
“I’ve been hearing about how you did Sherlock up like a kipper, telling his life story to Jim Moriarty which nearly got him killed and you nearly had my blood on your hands when I overdosed. I think you should spunk nearly £400 on Sherlock’s snip if you’re so bothered about his spunk levels and what they might do to me. Bit creepy if you ask me but then again I’m not surprised. Then I‘d say we‘re quits and furthermore ewwww.”  
  
Minty was stony faced while John and Sherlock guffawed at her nerve. Mycroft glared at Minty, furious beyond belief tinged with admiration for her brass neck.  
  
“I’m glad you two find this funny. All this fascination with my reproductive abilities is giving me the fucking dry boak. Fuck this shit.”  
  
She stormed out of the living room and let her bedroom door slam with a loud bang. Then Moonspell blasted out.  
  
“Well, who is going to go after then?” asked John.  
  
“I think you should, Mycroft.” said Sherlock. “I don’t blame her for being angry.”  
  
“Right…I will.”  
  
Mycroft rappped on Minty’s door.  
  
“FUCK OFF!”  
  
“Minty, I just want to talk to you. I’m sorry you’re offended.”  
  
Minty stuck her head round the door.  
  
“I’m not offended, I just want to smash your teeth in, you twat.”  
  
“I will pay for Sherlock’s vasectomy. You’re right, it’s the very least I can do.”  
  
The whole of Minty appeared and leaned against the door frame. She was chewing gum and popped a bubble.  
  
“Right, piss off now. I was having a pleasant evening settling into my new home and Sherlock and John were too I think. You might be my big brother but you really are an odious little man. I’ll never forgive you for the last 10 or so years without my Sherlock. Have you any idea what I went through?”  
  
“Minty, I know that you were very ill - “  
  
Sherlock and John by this time were ear-wigging from a safe distance.  
  
“I wish it was just that. I drank very heavily and I blacked out a lot and I woke up in bed with strange men, they say the next way to get over someone is under someone. I had to get extensions on all my course work for my final year and a letter from my GP to explain what happened. I did get a fucking First, fuck knows how though. I think my lecturers knew that I wasn’t myself and went easy on me. Do you know what stopped me really fucking my life over? I was out and got talking to some bloke in a bar in Leith and he took a shine to me and we were walking down Leith Walk and he dragged me round the side of a house and tried to attack me. I was screaming the place down and got a punch in and he ran off. I’ve never told anyone that before. It made me realise that the next time I might not be so lucky. And if you thought I was a whore, I thought I  might as well act like one.”  
  
“I was angry and shocked when I found you and Sherlock together that day. Of course you’re not. I was horrible to you and I’m sorry. I’m sorry that I acted in that way and I’m sorry that I interfered. I dislike the whole situation and find it distasteful in the extreme but I’m not going to interfere any further than paying for Sherlock’s vasectomy. I don’t want to lose Sherlock as a brother and I hope that in time, we can at least be civil to each other.”  
  
Minty stared at the carpet, not able to speak and Mycroft patted her shoulder. “I’ll let myself out.” He left.  
  
Sherlock and John came over to Minty. “Are you alright?” asked John.  
  
“Sweetheart…you didn’t tell me any of this.”  
  
Minty raised her head. “Just get me a fucking beer. He’s admitted he’s a cockwomble, he’s stumping up for the snip and he’s gone. I’ll drink to that, lads.”


	18. Chapter 18

In a small white walled private studio in a converted warehouse in Shoreditch, Minty and Sherlock lay naked on a dark blue sofa bed in the opalescent light of a December afternoon, partly covered by a black duvet, wrapped round each other, having just made love. Minty had chosen it particularly as it was right at the back of the building away from prying eyes and for the light quality. There were several canvas propped up against the walls, mood boards with photos of reptiles, patches of material, feathers, photos of blue sky, watches and pieces of glass and one canvas was on an easel. It was a partially completed painting of a teenage girl running into view with a intense expression on her face towards a pocket watch floating in mid air, being followed by a red dragon galloping behind her. This was the cover for the latest Dragon Clan book, Dragon Challenge, written by Kathleen Coulby which was a very popular teenage fantasy series and had proved very lucrative for Minty as well as personally fulfilling.  
  
“We had better make a move soon, I suppose” said Minty, nestling into Sherlock’s arms even more. She adored her little studio as not only could she paint in private, they were also free to be intimate together away from Baker Street and wouldn’t offend Mrs Hudson.  
  
“Not when you’re cuddling even more into me, we’re not. But you’re right, I’m so glad that Helen could make it tonight. I know it means a lot to you.”  
  
“Aye. I haven’t seen Mum since August and I’ve missed her terribly. It works out pretty well though. You drive the pair of us up to Edinburgh for Christmas, we all have a lovely time at Mum’s and we take the last of my canvases and bits and pieces down in the car with the back seat folded down. Mum is really good at making Christmas special, I think you will like it.”  
  
“The hardest things will be sitting about not doing terribly much and not being able to sleep with you. Oh God…that’s going to be Hell.”  
  
Minty propped herself up and tickled Sherlock’s nose with a strand of her hair. “Oh, stop being so pissy. It’s only for a few days and we can make up for it when we get back. And…if Mum does disappear for any length of time and gives us some peace I challenge you to make me come as quickly as possible and time yourself doing it. That might make it more interesting?”  
  
“Araminta, you are a wicked degenerate of a sister and I utterly love it. I accept your challenge, that will be rather fun, won’t it?”  
  
“See, not so boring now! And take some books to read. We can go for walks as well and the time will fly in. And Mum’s a good cook as you know, she’ll feed you until you burst. John’s off to his sisters so it’s got to be better than spending it with bloody Mycroft. And think of all the Christmases we missed.”  
  
“True. Would it be acceptable for me to come into your bedroom and wake you up with a cup of coffee, do you think?”  
  
“Sherlock, your coffee making abilities frankly stink. Stick to tea.”  
  
“Agreed. But you could make a cup of coffee up in Helen’s kitchen, ready for me to put water in the next morning. I couldn‘t do much damage to that.”  
  
“I could, couldn’t I?” Minty liked where he was going with this.  
  
“I think that would be a civilised thing to do and oh so thoughtful.”  
  
“Indeed.”  
  
“And once in your room, I think my hands might inadvertently wander under your duvet at will. My lips may also kiss you.”  
  
“I would be offended if they didn’t, my love.”  
  
They laughed softly.  
  
“In an ideal world we should’ve grown up together and you should’ve been the bratty big brother sticking worms down my back and hiding my Sylvanian Family bunnies to make me cry but hey ho. We can‘t complain though really.”  
  
“I can still put worms down your back if you want. I still can’t believe I’ve actually agreed to what’s happening later on. I’m evidently going soft in my old age and trust you to actually know a practising Druid of all people. When’s this Hippy Tam actually going to be there?”  
  
“He’s going to be there at half past 6 because he starts work at 8 at the Tube. You’ll like him, he’s my oldest Uni pal. I met him on my very first day and kept in touch after we graduated. Besides, you did send me an impassioned letter over 10 years ago mentioning a hand fasting by a Druid so it’s all your fault, really. He says that it’ll just take about 20 minutes and he also told me that today is a lovely day to do this being  the Pagan festival of Yule, as it symbolises family and rebirth and a time to celebrate the important things in life.”  
  
“Like us?”  
  
“Exactly.”  
  
“He does know our exact circumstances?”  
  
“Oh aye. He was the only person I was ever able to talk to about us and he was super nice and never judged me. He quoted the Wiccan Rede to me when were planning tonight over the phone which is  An it harm none, do what ye will. It means providing it harms nobody, it’s fine. And we’re not. Oh - and he always thought Alan was up his own arse. I wish I’d listened to him but you‘re always wise after the event.”  
  
“He sounds like a wise and compassionate man. Did you say Helen was preparing some food for tonight?”  
  
“I told her not to but you know what she’s like. She says she’ll get some buffet things at Tescos to warm through to keep it simple. It’s just going to be us, John, Hippy Tam, Molly and Mrs Hudson so it doesn’t have to be fancy. John was going to let her in after she went to the hotel and checked in. This is going to sound odd but I feel like John’s my big brother now and you are…well you. And it’s all good. I love John to bloody bits, I love you, I love being at Baker Street and I love the fact that we’re going to have our Anti-Wedding tonight.”  
  
Sherlock laughed and rolled over so he was holding her tightly and gazing deeply into her eyes.  
  
“Words can’t express how happy I am about our Anti-Wedding. We don’t need a piece of paper to express what we are to each other so this is fitting.”  
  
“And you’ve already made an amazing commitment to me by having your vasectomy, Sherlock.”  
  
“Honestly, children are not my area and I  never thought they would be so it‘s not problematic in any way, it was just a tad uncomfortable at the time. If it ensures peace of mind for us and gets Mycroft off our backs then all to the good.”  
  
“I’m sorry Mycroft didn’t want to come tonight. I do still think he‘s a prize tool but he‘s your brother more than mine and I‘d have been fine if he wanted to be there.”  
  
Sherlock sighed. “I’m not surprised but he really doesn’t like all of this, does he? At least he’s not tried to cause trouble and is staying away. The people that do actually matter are going to be there. And on that note, we should get up and dressed young lady. One final kiss?”  
  
“I think I can manage that.” They kissed deeply and Sherlock stood up and stretched, Minty enjoying the view for a moment and then she reluctantly got up. “Oh God, it’s freezing in here even with the central heating on.” They quickly got dressed and Sherlock folded up the sofa bed and put the pillows and duvet on it. Sherlock helped Minty into her long black coat and picked up her long woolly black scarf, tenderly tying it round her neck.  
  
“Just let me look at my painting for a minute or two, it’s going to be hard stepping away from it for a few days.”  
  
Minty went to look long and hard at the painting, Sherlock wrapping his arms around her from behind.  
  
“I think I might need to redo the watch a bit but otherwise, it’s not too bad at all.”  
  
“You worry too much. It looks good to me.”  
  
“You’re biased though. It won’t need a lot of work but it’ll still have to be done.”  
  
“Sweetheart, you left the house before I woke up so that was well before 8 this morning to come here and you were still painting when I got here at half past one. You’ve been so busy lately, you’ve been out of the flat at about 7 every morning and coming in at 6. I’ve hardly seen you what with my own work and everything so please  
just forget it for now and let’s enjoy tonight and Christmas. I’ll do my very best not to be too annoying.”  
  
She turned and wrapped her arms around him. “And you’ll last 5 minutes. I just get too involved with my paintings I suppose, it will be bloody hard not being here. I associate this studio with being content and…with you. I love it when you come to see me here and no, it’s not just about sex although that’s very nice.”  
  
“NICE?”  
  
“Oh you know what I mean.”  
  
“I’m offended. I do absolutely everything you want me to do to ensure your pleasure and you say it’s nice?”  
  
“Oh God…you’re upset. Okay - it’s fantastic. The sex is fantastic. You are a fantastic lover. I mean it. Are you happy now?”  
  
Sherlock grinned ear to ear. “Enraptured. I just wanted to find out what you really thought of my performance. I’m happy now, I aim to do everything to the best of my ability.”  
  
Minty jabbed his coat with her finger. “You-Are-A-Pain-In-The-Arse, you manipulative bastard. As I was about to say, I’m happy here. I can’t believe how much my life has changed since the start of the year and for the better. I can see now how wrong being with Alan was and how fucked up the situation was too. Thank you.”  
  
“For what?”  
  
“Interrupting my wedding.”  
  
“You’re welcome. You don’t plan to run off anywhere tonight?”  
  
“No, silly. Let’s go.”  
  
“Mum, you’ve bought the whole of Tescos, I swear, thank you.”  
  
“No trouble flower. I got chicken satay, sausage rolls and chicken goujons for everyone else and onion bhajis, mini cheese and tomato pizzas and vegetable samosas for you. I’ve got paper plates so there’s no washing up. Everything can just be popped in the oven to heat through.”  
  
Helen had been busy with John tidying up 221B Baker Street.  
  
“I bought some cans of Bud, a couple of bottles of white wine and a bottle of Glenfiddich” said John.  
  
“Does anyone want in the bathroom? I’m going to have a wee quick shower?”  
  
“Off you go” said Helen. “I’ll get the kettle on. Tea, Sherlock?”  
  
“Please. Minty, you look beautiful as it is but I’d love it if you wore that shirt I gave you tonight as you look particularly striking in it.”  
  
Minty smiled. “I was going to. I’ll be as quick as I can. Oh wait…who got the flowers?”  
  
Minty spotted a large and very expensive looking bouquet of flowers sitting in the sink. “Mrs Hudson is going to get us a vase for them” John said.  
  
“Sherlock?”  
  
“I am sure I know who sent them, but I’ll leave it up to you, Minty. Look, there’s a card.”  
  
Minty went over to them. “God, they’re bloody lovely.” She picked up the card and opened it, reading the card aloud.  
  
“Oh.”  
 _  
I didn’t wish to intrude on your celebrations tonight but wish you both all the very best for the future. With fondest regards, Mycroft._  
  
Minty read this aloud and didn’t quite know what to feel about it.  
  
“Suitably oblique considering he used a House of Commons account to send them. Still, we should appreciate the gesture.”  
  
“I guess…yeah, maybe. He’s still a cockwomble, just slightly less so. Right, I’m off for a shower.”  
  
Helen passed Sherlock and John a cup of tea. “She seems so much happier in herself these days, doesn’t she? It’s funny how things work out. This isn’t what I wanted for her at all but she’s settling in here and you can see she’s doing away. Thank you, both of you.”  
  
“Thank you for having me over Christmas, Helen. I mostly ignore the festive season as much as possible but it will be pleasant to be in Edinburgh with you and Minty. She’s like a little girl, she’s so excited about Santa coming, she even keeps saying it‘s another sleep until Santa comes. I would normally find such whimsy nauseating but as this is my Araminta so it comes with the territory. I only find it endearing because it comes from her.”  
  
“She adores Christmas and she’s very excited about you staying. Who else would put up a black Christmas tree?” Helen waved towards the arty black tree sitting in the corner of the living room festooned with silver and purple tinsel.  
  
“I know that Minty is wary of going back to Edinburgh because of everything that happened in August. She misses Scotland terribly though and I think it would do her good to get home more. Has much been said, about the wedding that never was, Helen?”  
  
“You know what it’s like, Sherlock I’m sure. Edinburgh isn’t a big place and as they say if you fart in Portree, they’ll smell it in Glasgow - “  
  
John snorted. “That’s a good one.”  
  
“It’s true! It’s calmed down a lot though, Alan’s family were calling her the bitch from Hell but they’ve settled down now that Minty and Alan have worked out how to pay back the cost of the wedding between them.”  
  
“She says as soon as she gets that paid off she will think about renting a flat with a view to working from home. She knows that she has a home here as long as she needs it.”  
  
“It’s even livelier since she moved in” said John. “If it’s not one shooting the wall in a temper, it’s the other playing that really bad Norwegian metal full blast at 1am to wind Sherlock up. I’d miss her though, she’s quite a character in a good way. You know what’s shocked me the most and it actually isn’t the fact that they are brother and sister - “  
  
“Half” said Sherlock pedantically.  
  
“As I was saying, it’s the fact that Sherlock isn’t as much of a self-centred swine as I thought he was. Minty has actually made him think of someone else other than himself.”  
  
“It’s simple. No-one else has ever merited my care and attention. And I love her.”  
  
“Awww, you soppy git!” Minty appeared and kissed Sherlock hard on the mouth. Helen didn’t know quite where to look, still not quite used to the strangeness of their relationship but smiled anyway. Her daughter was obviously cherished and that‘s what ultimately mattered.  
  
“Will I do?”  
  
“You are beautiful, sweetheart.” Sherlock caught his breath as he looked her up and down. Her dark shiny hair fell to bra strap level and had one streak of purple. She had the black shirt untucked over black skinny jeans which were tucked into 14 hole Doc Martens with red roses embroidered up them and she showed enough cleavage to make both men’s gazes linger. Her eyes were defined with black and purple eyeliner and this made her green eyes pop. Her pierced lips were softly red.  
  
“You’re a wee smasher” said Helen. “And you look so much happier than you did in August so that’s the main thing.”  
  
“Oh God, that day was bloody awful and I hated that fucking dress and the shoes, gads. Now it’s right time, right man, right everything and fuck the rest. What’s the time?”  
  
The buzzer sounded and John got it. “It’s Molly. Molly, come on up.”  
  
Molly came in and made a beeline for Minty, hugging her. “Hey! You look lovely” said Minty.  
  
Molly blushed. “I know you said that you didn’t want anyone to dress up but this is your wedding day really.” Molly had a simple dark red knee length dress on and high heels on. She held a sparkly pink bottle bag out to Minty who took it and John took her coat. “Thanks a lot, honey.”  
  
“Hello Molly, overdressed for - OW!”  
  
Minty aimed a hard kick at Sherlock’s shins and he rubbed the sore spot. “Jesus Minty - “  
  
“Sorry about my brother, I‘m sure he was dropped on his head as a baby or something. You’re fine, we’ve got whisky, white wine or beer?”  
  
“Oh, white wine please.”  
  
But of course - “  
  
“Sherlock, do you want to handfast me tonight or not?”  
  
“Well, yes.”  
  
“Any more of your cheek and you can forget it, buster.”  
  
Sherlock opened his mouth but closed it again. What a woman.  
  
Minty took Molly’s arm and steered her into the kitchen. “I can’t believe I’m committing myself to that fuckwit but there you are. I’m so pleased you could come tonight.”  
  
“Thanks for inviting me. I’ve never been to a hand fasting before, it’s quite exciting really.”  
  
“You are alright with it being me and Sherlock…and not just because we’re related? I know you liked him.”  
  
Molly nodded. “I thought about it and I am because you make him happy and that makes me happy, Minty. I used to see Sherlock looking sad when John couldn’t see and I thought it was just because of what Jim Moriarty was doing to him but I know that it was much more than that. He seems different in himself too, like he’s more content or something and I just wish you could make it official.”  
  
“So do I, but this is better, more personal to us.”  
  
“Sherlock isn’t really a spiritual sort of person. How did you get him to agree to this?”  
  
“He wrote to me after that asshat Mycroft split us up and said that I’d like to get married by a Druid in a field. I didn’t get the letter back then but I read it since and I thought riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight. He also told me that horrible night that he would marry me if he could so here we are, it‘s the only way we could think of getting round this whole stupid situation. I had a shitty Godawful wedding day in August that didn’t happen to a man I didn’t really love and I’m going to be paying that day off for fucking ages which is a complete pisser by the way. I’m going to tell you something Molly. I was in the car on the way to the registry office and all I could think of was Sherlock. I had images of us, well, you know, popping in my head and I was running AC/DC songs through my head to try to drown it all out and I couldn’t. It was horrible and then Sherlock turned up and although I slapped him - “  
  
“You slapped him? Oh my God. I warned him you might!”  
  
“You did? Brilliant. I slapped him and I wanted to kiss him all at once because I knew that he was there because he still wanted me and loved me and that was…amazing. Because I felt the same, I never stopped loving him.”  
  
Minty blinked away tears. “He’s difficult, he’s rude, he’s snotty, he’s a smart-arse but he’s also…brave, funny, kind when he wants to be, smart and he’s…the love of my life. And even though he‘s my half brother I wouldn’t change this for the world.”  
  
“Oh Minty.” Molly hugged her.  
  
“Hello boys” Mrs Hudson appeared wearing a smart two piece grey suit and holding a large white vase, handing the vase to Sherlock. “Give that to Minty, dear.” Sherlock appeared in the kitchen and handed Minty the vase who sat it down.  
  
“I’ll do that” said Molly, picking up the bouquet and taking off the cellophane. “Who sent these?”  
  
“Mycroft” said Sherlock. “Talking about me, were you ladies?” He slipped his arm around Minty’s waist. “No, I can tell, you were. I hope you were telling Molly what a fantastic lover I am, like you told me earlier - “  
  
Molly’s eyes swivelled, uncomfortable and she concentrated on loading the vase with expensive flowers. “Sherlock, is your default setting actually obnoxious bastard?” said Minty cuttingly. “Ignore him. I did say that though. Bloody wish I hadn’t now.”  
  
The buzzer rang out again. “Sherlock, sod off and get that.”  
  
“He’s only being like that because he’s got an audience” Minty said. “I think this should be Hippy Tam now.”  
  
“Minty?” Sherlock shouted. Minty took Molly’s hand and led her into the living room while Molly had lurid images of Sherlock whirling round her head. A short man with waist length brown dreadlocks and twinkly brown eyes tied back with a red bandana and holding a black rucksack stood with everyone else wearing a Transport for London fleece and camouflage combats.  
  
“Tam!” Minty squealed and flung her arms around him. “It’s so good to see you, it’s been bloody ages!”  
  
“Good to be here, darling. And this must be your man? Pleased to finally meet you Sherlock.” He sat his rucksack down and offered his hand to Sherlock who shook it, the handshake being very firm. “I can feel the love you have for our Minty and it’s very positive. It’s going to be an honour to bind the two of you together.”  
  
“Thank you for doing this Tam and being sympathetic to our situation.”  
  
Tam smiled beatifically. “There is no right and wrong, there is only love, my friend.”  
  
“Lovely to see you again Tam” said Helen. “How’s life treating you in London?”  
  
“Busy, busy with the tube maintenance, not quite what Minty’s doing but it keeps me in a job. Speaking of which, we should really be cracking on.”  
  
“Do you want a drink, Tam?”  
  
“I’ll have a cup of coffee afterwards, please. If we can clear a space in the middle of the floor, that would be good. This would ideally be done outside in a wood but we have love and light in the room from everyone and that’s all we need.”  
  
John and Sherlock pushed the table and chairs back while Tam got out a length of red ribbon, a little silver coloured box and a pair of scissors, sitting them on the table.  
  
“Could everyone please form a circle as best they can around Minty and Sherlock? Great. Minty and Sherlock, please face each other, that’s it.”  
  
“As you might know, I am an ordained Druid and have been for three years now, I’m also a very old friend of Araminta’s. I follow the Old Religion which is as old as time and I am very honoured to be able to handfast Sherlock and Araminta together for life tonight. This is not a formal marriage but is as sacred and meaningful and this couple’s story shows that they belong together and that there is no right or wrong - just two people deeply in love and who are meant for each other. Destiny has brought them together again and will keep them together. Today is also the Pagan festival of Yule which is traditionally a time for celebrating family and the important things in life, like this couple‘s love.”  
  
“I think I need a tissue” said Helen tearfully. Mrs Hudson handed her one and dabbed her own eyes.  
  
“I am now going to cast the circle” said Tam and walked around them. Sherlock and John exchanged glances and their lips twitched, not buying the New Age vibe. Minty narrowed her eyes at Sherlock who mouthed sorry.  
  
Tam stood in front of Minty and Sherlock. “Do you both wish to be hand fasted today so that you will be forever as one?”  
  
They both said yes, Minty’s eyes welling up.  
  
“Is there anyone present who thinks that these two people should not be together?”  
  
Minty felt a prickle go up her neck and squirmed. Sherlock mouthed don’t worry to her. A pause and then Tam smiled. “As I thought.” Minty exhaled.  
  
Tam handed them both a piece of paper and they read it out loud. “We come of our own free will in perfect love and  perfect trust to commit ourselves to each other.”  
  
Molly started to sniffle.  
  
“Who has the rings?” asked Tam.  
  
“I do” said John and handed them to Tam who gave Sherlock‘s to Minty and vice versa.  
  
“I didn’t know we had rings?” said Sherlock to Minty.  
  
“You do now, they were meant to be a surprise. Look, aren’t they brilliant?”  
  
“I don’t do rings or jewellery, you know that.”  
  
“Sherlock, shut your flapping pie hole and LOOK at them properly, you twit.”  
  
He did. They were tiny dragons holding their tails to make the circle in silver and he regretted being so thoughtless, especially as he still had Minty’s dragon pendant in his wallet.  
  
“Thoughtless?”  
  
“Just a bit, Sherlock” said John.  
  
“Sweetheart, I’m so sorry. Typical me, putting my foot in it. They’re lovely, really. How did you know my ring size?”  
  
“I’m an artist, remember. I measure things with my eyes all the time. Put mine on my wedding ring finger on my right hand. That way, no one will comment. And I got you a chain to put yours on, I know you‘re not big on jewellery, as you‘ve pointed out.”  
  
Sherlock slid Minty’s ring on and held out his right hand for Minty. “I’ll wear mine in the flat, sweetheart.” It fitted.  
  
“Shall we continue?” asked Tam.  
  
“Please, do. Sorry.”  
  
Tam continued “Do you both commit  to be with  each in joy and adversity, in wholeness and brokenness, in peace and turmoil, living with each other faithfully all your days?”  
  
“We do” they said.  
  
“May the Gods you  the strength to keep these vows. So be it."  
  
“Sherlock, take Minty’s left hand  with your right and Minty, take Sherlock’s hand with your left.”  
  
Tam loosely tied a red velvet ribbon around their hands and took the pair of scissors and snipped off a tiny piece of their hair, putting it in the little box.  
  
“This symbolises their future relationship, mixed together. I’ll bury it. I wish you much love, kindness, passion, understanding and happiness, Sherlock and Araminta. I have conducted a few of these ceremonies now but I’ve genuinely never seen a happier couple.”  
  
Minty’s tears were streaming freely down her cheeks and she nodded. Molly came over and wiped her cheeks.  
  
“I now pronounce you Sherlock and Araminta together forever. I’ll untie you and then Sherlock, kiss your new life partner?”  
  
Unbound, Sherlock swept Minty into his arms and kissed her so deeply that John said “Steady on, you’re making us all jealous.”  
  
Molly had a pang of loss. So that was that…she liked Minty very much but still.  
  
“Sorry, I forgot for a moment we had an audience.”  
  
Helen hugged Minty tightly. “Oh my wee flower, I’m so happy for you.”  
  
“Is my eyeliner down my face?”  
  
“No, you look lovely” said John who hugged her. “Congratulations on making an honest man out of him.”  
  
“It’s not a legally binding commitment sadly” said Sherlock.  
  
“You know what I mean” and shook Sherlock’s hand.  
  
Molly shoved her pique away and hugged Minty. “Be good to him, Minty.”  
  
Minty didn’t need that explained. “I will be, I promise” she said softly.  
  
Mrs Hudson hugged them both. “I’m so happy for you, Sherlock’s finally found a nice girl, who would have thought? Very unusual but then again, Sherlock is unusual I suppose.”  
  
Helen hugged Sherlock. “I suppose you’re my son-in-law now? You be good to my wee lassie, she’s a smasher.”  
  
“I know, Helen. I think she is too.”  
  
After the hugs and handshakes were done, Tam left in a flurry of handshakes and goodwill, the buffet was on the table and Minty was sitting on Sherlock’s knee, John handed Minty a plain white envelope.  
  
“What’s that? Contact details for Relate just in case?” she joked.  
  
“It’s your Anti-Wedding present from your Mum, Molly, Mrs Hudson and me. Go, on open it.”  
  
“You do it, Sherlock.”  
  
“Alright. I think it will be a booking invoice for something meant to be a surprise.”  
  
“Just do it, smart-arse or I‘ll tickle you.”  
  
He ripped it open.  
  
“An invoice for a double room at the Marriott Park Lane including breakfast for tonight…? For us.”  
  
“Oh WOW! No way! Thank you, thank you, thank you.”  
  
“That is such a kind gesture, for once I’m genuinely lost for words…I haven’t woken up with Minty in the same bed for over ten years. That’s extraordinarily thoughtful, thank you.” Sherlock was very much moved.  
  
Minty jumped off Sherlock’s knee and kissed everyone.  
  
“I’ve just had a thought. If this is an Anti-Wedding, we haven’t had our first dance yet.”  
  
“Minty, for God’s sake no. I can‘t think of anything more ghastly.”  
  
“I want to know if you dance as well as you - “  
  
“Araminta!”  
  
“Sorry Mum. Oh go on. For me.”  
  
“I must be mad. Alright, fine.”  
  
“John, get your laptop please and Youtube Rule the World by Take That.”  
  
“Oh, I LOVE that song!” squealed Molly. “I love Take That!”  
  
“So does Minty, but she won’t admit it. Her bedroom was a shrine to them all when she was a teenager, what was that one you liked, Howard Donald?”  
  
“That’s my rock chick image totally fucked now isn’t it? I did…do but I love this song as it’s from Stardust. I’m convinced that there are beautiful ladies twinking in Heaven now.”  
  
“You get ever more fey daily, Araminta, but I do love you for it.”  
  
Minty tugged Sherlock’s hand and he got up, laughing a little. He was _happy_ and could afford to indulge her.  
  
“No treading on my feet with those boots, Minty” Sherlock warned, pulling her into his arms. They managed an awkward shuffle around the living room, both too distracted to care.  
  
“I’m going to sleep in the same bed as you tonight” he purred into her ear. “And I can’t wait, my love. One whole night of having you so near. And it is technically our wedding night…”  
  
Minty’s insides were going liquid. His breath on her ear and his whispers…  
  
“This is what we should have had ten years ago. I meant it when I said I’d marry you back then.”  
  
“Maybe we had to be separated to show everyone who matters how serious we are about each other. Tonight’s been brilliant and we don’t need a bit of poxy paper.”  
  
 _“I just want you.”_


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the final chapter and I’m actually quite sad to say goodbye to Minty after all of this time as I’m half in love with her myself but all good things must come to an end. I would like to say thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read this, it is so much appreciated.
> 
> I use music a lot to get me in the mood to create certain scenes or get a feeling into my writing. These are the main songs I used to write I Want The One I Can’t Have (and incidentally, all of my works so far have used songs by The Smiths as titles - one of the most British of bands for one of the most British of literary heroes. Apt? Every single song below has flavoured this story in some way.
> 
> This last chapter is pretty adult in nature as I wanted to convey the whirlwind and primal nature of Minty and Sherlock's relationship so be warned!
> 
> No Light, No Light - Florence + The Machine  
> The Man With the Child in his Eyes - Kate Bush  
> Year of the Cat - Al Stewart  
> Long Live The King - Pythia  
> Dark Star - Pythia  
> My Perfect Enemy - Pythia  
> In The Real World - Roy Orbison  
> Scorpion Flower - Moonspell  
> More - Sisters of Mercy  
> Temple of Love - Sisters of Mercy  
> What Have You Done - Within Temptation Featuring Keith Caputo  
> Mother Earth - Within Temptation  
> Frozen - Within Temptation  
> Du Hast - Rammstein  
> Links 2-3-4 - Rammstein  
> Dancing in the City - Marshall Hain  
> Self Control - Laura Brannigan  
> Night Owl - Gerry Rafferty  
> Baker Street - Gerry Rafferty  
> Stay Forever - Delain  
> Virtue and Vice - Delain  
> Because the Night - Patti Smith  
> Wrapped Around Your Finger - The Police  
> Who Wants To Live Forever - Queen  
> Headlong - Queen  
> Isle of Avalon - Iron Maiden  
> Sorcerer - Stevie Nicks  
> Rooms on Fire - Stevie Nicks  
> Stand Back - Stevie Nicks  
> Rhiannon - Fleetwood Mac  
> Gypsy - Fleetwood Mac  
> Fall At Your Feet - Crowded House  
> Wicked Game - HIM  
> Captain of Her Heart - Double  
> Evergreen - Mostly Autumn  
> Puff the Magic Dragon - Peter Paul and Mary  
> Come Undone - Duran Duran  
> Lavender (7” version) - Marillion  
> Shadow Play - Fish  
> Together in Electric Dreams - Phil Bailey and Giorgio Moroder  
> If You Leave - OMD  
> Never Tear Us Apart - INXS  
> Night Moves - Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band  
> Rule the World - Take That  
> Daylight Dancer - Lacuna Coil  
> Take it To The Limit - The Eagles  
> Desperado - The Eagles  
> One of These Nights - Eagles  
> Something's Gotten Hold Of My Heart- Marc Almond/Gene Pitney

  
Sherlock and Minty sank back into the back seat of the black cab as they dropped Helen off to her hotel and waved. They had been stilted and fidgety, making forced conversation and too eager for Helen to go. Helen, having Mum-Dar, knew and wasn’t in the slightest bit offended. She watched Minty’s little glances at Sherlock, the way she picked the odd stray hair off his coat and thoughtly wryly that Minty had been exactly the same with him all those years  ago in her flat.  
  
“Poor Mum, I wonder if she realised we were desperate to get her out of the taxi?” worried Minty.  
  
“Of course she knew. Helen is incredibly observant and also protective of you. She constantly watches you, not because she’s anxious, but because she is a mother hen and you are still her chick. You’re lucky, sweetheart. I wish Mother had been like that with Mycroft and I. So much would’ve been different.”  
  
Sherlock gazed into the distance, Minty squeezed his arm and he stroked her hand. Both parents had been distant and the brothers Holmes had been brought up by well-meaning nannies in benign neglect. No wonder he found normal human emotions largely impossible, Minty thought but he loved her utterly and she was humbled all of a sudden.  
  
“Mum raised a couple or so things that we might have to look into on the phone last night.”  
  
“Such as?”  
  
“She said that we should take out some life assurance and put it into trust so that if something happens to either of us, we would have funeral expenses covered. She also suggested making wills and appointing an executor so that our wishes would be taken into account. She thought John could do that because obviously we can completely trust him. Remember, we aren’t married in the eyes of the law but this would mean that we were safeguarded anyway.”  
  
“Helen’s very astute and also completely right. We will look into that after Christmas, then. I’ve been doing some thinking of my own.”  
  
“What about, darling?”  
  
“I am at least going to investigate where we stand legally.”  
  
“But there’s no point, we’re breaking the law - “  
  
“A mere technicality. Let’s examine the situation. We met ten years ago and were not aware of each other’s existence and were not brought up together. You are only my half-sister and I have been permanently sterilised and you are on long term contraception, meaning that we cannot have children. As I understand it, the main objection to any close-blooded relationships is due to the possibility of children and that has been negated. I am going to investigate the Human Rights Act and the law as it stands as we have the right to a private and family life for a start. It would be worthwhile to do so just in case something happened and we were discovered. Please don’t look so worried, I’m being purely practical. I will NOT be parted from you again, Araminta. I’m going to grow old with you.”  
  
Minty’s eyes stung with tears. “I want that, oh so much.” She then chuckled. “I can see us being in the same old folk’s home getting a row off the carers for throwing scones at each other and arguing.”  
  
“And I wouldn’t be allowed to shoot the wall, where’s the fun in that?”  
  
“None whatsoever. But we’d be together, until death do us part and all that.”  
  
“I have something else to put to you, my love.”  
  
“Oh?”  
  
“You know your repayments to that insufferable fool of an ex-fiancé of yours? Did you  say that they were ending next October?”  
  
“Yep. My standing order into his bank account of £250 a month will stop and the fucker is not getting a penny more.”  
  
“I’ve been thinking about this too. I would like you to get a flat of your own sooner rather than later.”  
  
“Do you want rid of me or something?”  
  
“Good God no, quite the opposite. I know you would like to have a similar flat to the lovely one you had in Edinburgh.”  
  
“I really would. I miss that wee flat.”  
  
“I’ve got rather fond memories of it too. I would also like to be able to stay with you and sleep in the same bed as you whenever I wanted, tonight has made me realise how much I want to do that. Snatching the odd couple of hours in your studio alone with you is lovely but it’s too furtive for my liking and now we’re committed to each other, we deserve more.”  
  
“What are you thinking?”  
  
“I still have some money from Father’s inheritance invested. I know all yours is gone -”  
  
“I used it to live on after graduating because I was really too ill to work and the fuckers at the benefits office said I wouldn‘t get any money off them because I had too much in savings.”  
  
“I know, sweetheart. I think I may have enough to get a deposit on a reasonable one bedroom flat for you and to fund the monthly payments until you’re in a position to take them over.”  
  
“What? Are you serious? You don’t have to do that. Oh God. I don‘t know what to say.”  
  
“I’m completely serious. You need a flat,  we need somewhere to be intimate without offending my landlady and you need a permanent studio. We can look for somewhere that is similar to your flat in Edinburgh so you can work from it and I can come and sleep with you there and at least attempt to conduct a normal committed relationship as far as we can. It’s not entirely selfless. The mortgage will be in joint names so it‘ll be an investment for us both, so we‘re both liable in case something happens. Think of all the fantastic sex we are going to have in that flat and the precious time together. I already am.”  
  
“I still don’t know what to say.”  
  
“What about I love you, please and thank you?”  
  
“I love you, please and thank you. Oh God. I’m going to have to get my head round this. Tell me - why didn’t you get a flat of your own?”  
  
“I wanted money saved for a rainy day given the erratic nature of my work but this is a far better way of using it, don’t you think?”  
  
“Yep…oh God. I’m speechless.”  
  
“That’s a first. I’m totally committed to us and I think this is a good foundation for us to start on. You’re stuck with me, I’m afraid. I hope that’s not too inconvenient.”  
  
“It is in entirely with my life plans, Mr Holmes and I am delighted to give consent. I have two stipulations on this though.”  
  
“Yes, Mrs Holmes-Mackenzie?”  
  
“OH. Wow. Right. Oh, _I like that._ Please never stop loving me like you do now.”  
  
“I can promise I won’t. It‘s impossible. And the other?”  
  
“Please always make me feel I’m a Catherine Wheel spinning out of control when we’re alone.”  
  
“Do I? What a beautiful analogy. I promise to do my best to because you do the same to me, my love. Do you want to feel that way in our hotel room tonight?”  
  
He murmured this and Minty felt a definite trickle of liquid between her legs.  
  
“Please.”  
  
“If we weren’t the way we are I would kiss you, tell the driver to look straight ahead, tip him very well to do so and you’d come before we got there. Hopefully twice.”  
  
“Sherlock, stop being a tease!”  
  
“I wouldn’t tease you about something so important. And incidentally, I am going to order you to do something as soon as we get settled into our room.”  
  
“Like…what?”  
  
“No need to sound nervous, Araminta. You know I’d never ask you to do anything you’d feel compromised by.”  
  
“Tell me?”  
  
“No.”  
  
“Sherlock, stop being so stubborn. TELL ME!”  
  
Sherlock smirked and stared straight ahead, studiously ignoring Minty’s prods and shakes. She slumped in her seat with an exasperated sound but anticipating his request. She knew it would be good.  
  
“Actually, there’s something I want of you.”  
  
Sherlock turned to her with a little half smile.  
  
“The morning I was supposed to get officially married, I had certain thoughts of you popping into my head.”  
  
“Really?”  
  
“Aye. I thought of that day we went to the Victoria and Albert museum and we were heading back to Mycroft’s and it was nearly dark and I pulled you into that alleyway - “  
  
“Ah. I do remember. Of course. That was rather exciting, you wanton strumpet, you.”  
  
“I know. Anyway…I realise now that we’re all supposedly sensible and grown up - “  
  
“In a matter of speaking.”  
  
“We can’t go running about London shagging in alleyways like cats on heat anymore, really.”  
  
“I’d like to, you know I would, but you’re right sadly. Too much at stake now.”  
  
“What I want us to do is to go away for a weekend next spring, when it gets warmer to somewhere pretty remote, maybe to that place you investigated that case with the dog - “  
  
“Baskerville. The Hound of.”  
  
“Aye. Well, I think we should book a cottage for a weekend and head off down there or somewhere similar. You know how I love nature and feeling the life and the spirits in the environment, especially woodland. What I would love and would find the ultimate in turn-ons is for us to find a remote bit of woodland some sunny warm day, for you to take my clothes off and lay me down on that big coat of yours and make love to me in the woods, with the smell of the trees and the earth, the sound of the birds. I’m shivering just thinking about it. I’d wrap myself round you - “  
  
“And probably get an arse full of shot from a poacher. Or nettle stings.”  
  
“SHERLOCK! Don’t piss on my Cheerios! Right, here’s the deal. I will trust you enough to do whatever evil plan you have for me later if you do this.”  
  
“Of course I will. I’m only joking. I think you would be perfectly enchanting, naked on my coat, wet and ready for me, dappled in the sunlight filtering through the trees and surrounded by your Dragon and nature. You’d look like some sort of saucy wench from a simpler, more pagan time - which you really are.”  
  
Minty made the classic “get in there” gesture.  
  
The taxi pulled up at the hotel.  
  
“Oh God, are we there?”  
  
“It would appear so.”  
  
Sherlock paid the driver and they got out, Minty handed her black rucksack to Sherlock with their toiletries and change of clothes for the next day.  
  
“Let’s get checked in and into our room. Is it a bit indecent to say I’m desperate to get you alone?”  
  
“I’m morally outraged. Are you saying you just want me for my body?”  
  
“Absolutely not” giggled Minty and whispered “I want you for your devastating good looks, your lack of charm, tact, diplomacy,  your undeniable unpredictability, wit, love, devotion to me…and the fact you are unbelievably good at oral sex and I can‘t want for you to be inside me.”  
  
This made Minty go red and cry laughing at her own embarrassment and Sherlock made her stand outside until she regained her composure.  
  
“Sorry, I’m feeling a bit manic. Pretend I didn’t say that.”  
  
Sherlock was unruffled but his eyes shone at her. “Come on Lady of the Dragon, time to get you into your cave before you burn me alive with that passion of yours. Please gloriously misbehave once we get into our room.”  
  
“Oh wow, look  at all this, it’s gorgeous!”  
  
Sherlock sat the bag down on the floor and watched Minty dart about, lifting up the high thread count pillows, run into the bathroom exclaiming “there’s Molton Brown smellies in here, get in” and then she ran towards him and he opened his arms, folding her into them.  
  
“Slow down! Are you feeling okay, dearest?”  
  
“Oh aye…high as a kite but come on, this is my Anti-Wedding day. But yep…bit frantic, mind’s going ten to the dozen.”  
  
“I’m going to make you a coffee and you are going to take your coat and boots off and lie on that bed and relax for a bit. I’m not very good at this looking after people business but you are my wife in all but name and I am going to take this seriously.”  
  
“We DO have the same name, stupid.”  
  
“Conceded.”  
  
“But you said you wanted me to do something?”  
  
“I do, but that can wait. Do as you’re told.”  
  
Minty hung up her coat, sat on the bed to unzip her boots while Sherlock made her a coffee and himself tea. She settled on the bed, propping herself up on the pillows and thanked Sherlock for her coffee. He sat beside her, sipping tea and watching her carefully. John had warned him that although Minty could manage perfectly well on her medication, she would have mood swings. She had already had one day when she spent most of the day on her bed crying and he had demanded that John to help make it stop as he couldn’t cope with her tears.  John had rounded on him, said in a dangerously low voice that he was the ultimate in self centred c**ts, that was the love of his life in pieces and he HAD to grow up and be responsible for her so **GET THE FUCK BACK IN THERE AND GROW A PAIR.** Sherlock had slunk back in, murmured sorry and had lain on the bed with her, wiping her tears away with kitchen roll and stroking her hair until she eventually fell asleep with the emotional exhaustion of crying for 10 hours on and off. That, and the Diazepam that John made her take.  
  
“I’m okay. My head isn’t going to start spinning round or anything. I could live in this room, it’s bloody lovely. I don’t think I’ve ever been in a room this fancy. It was so kind of everyone to do this for us, I feel almost like a blushing bride except I can’t say I’m blushing.”  
  
“You were like a beetroot outside. And thank you for the compliments.”  
  
“Shush, you. True though. I do open my mouth and let my belly rumble, I’m bad for that.”  
  
“I am too though. Must be the Holmes genes, Just take your time. I’m just glad we’ve got some quality time together, anything else is icing on the cake.”  
  
“Sherlock?”  
  
“Sweetheart?”  
  
“Can I ask you something?”  
  
“Of course.”  
  
“Remember that letter you wrote me, that really important one that I didn’t get to see? Well, you said that, or rather I think you said, that even if we never slept together ever again that it didn’t matter. Did you mean it?”  
  
“Every word. I was concerned that you would feel scared to be with me at all after Mycroft walked in on us and I just wanted to reiterate that you were more important. I’m of course pleased as punch that you are actually in fact a succubus.”  
  
“A succubus? I love that! Classic! No…I just loved what you said and you meant it, is all.”  
  
“I did. And you really are a succubus born of woman. You are all fire and temper, you have the passion of a dragon and you’re not quite of this world at the best of times. Therefore I deduce you are a succubus sent to seduce me. Are you quite sure that Moriarty didn’t send you as a honey trap?”  
  
“No, honestly. It was clearly Fate. And the fact my Mum had the hots for your Dad, she said that the fact we have or had things for Holmes men must be in the blood, God help us.”  
  
Sherlock lay down and nestled into her as she quietly sipped her coffee and  a few moments of companionable silence passed, both content just to be.  
  
“Araminta?”  
  
“Hmmmmmm?”  
  
“How are you feeling?”  
  
“Pretty chilled now thank you. What did you want me to do by the way?”  
  
“Oh, I’d half forgotten about that but do you feel more like yourself?”  
  
Sherlock propped himself up to look at her and kissed her lingeringly.  
  
“I do. I want to know what you wanted because it’s bugging me.”  
  
“Because that’s what I want you to do.”  
  
“You what?”  
  
“You set me a challenge of making you come as quickly as possible when we’re in Edinburgh for Christmas, didn’t you. I need to observe you masturbating.”  
  
“Oh blimey.”  
  
“Too personal? Feeling exposed? It’s fine, I would never insist on you doing something you didn’t want to do. If you don’t want to, I understand.”  
  
“No…” she said slowly. “Just I’ve never done this. It’s strange but good-strange. Oh God…how do you want me to do it?”  
  
“Whatever is most comfortable for you. I just need to watch your technique for a better way of describing it. That way, I will be confident of doing it correctly and quickly.”  
  
“Well, you’re sure as Hell not going to be doing it close up style…too much. I‘d feel like a bloody porn star or you were my Gynae.”  
  
“My love…I have spent a not inconsiderable amount of time with my head between your legs and have loved every moment of it. You can’t possibly be embarrassed, but as you wish. Get undressed and lie on the bed and we’ll take it from there. I‘ll think of how we can do this so you don‘t feel inhibited.”  
  
“I’m going to scrub my war paint off, use the loo and brush my teeth.”  
  
Minty disappeared for 10 minutes and then reappeared, quickly shedding her clothes and dropping them on the carpet.  
  
Sherlock had quickly departed to his Mind Palace in the interim and had come up with A Plan.  
  
“You are so beautiful, Araminta. Now, come and lie down beside me.”  
  
She lay down beside him, Sherlock still fully clothed in his purple shirt and black trousers,  Minty prickling with nerves but fully trusting. She made to undo the buttons on his shirt but he playfully slapped her hand away. “You can do that later.”  
  
He began to kiss her and her mind whirled in sparks and spun and she made a small noise in her throat when he pulled away, fingers reaching down, rubbing, Minty sighing “oh…that’s good.”  
  
“I’m going to tell you a story.”  
  
She opened her eyes and looked at him. “You are?”  
  
“I am. And while I am doing it, please touch yourself.”  
  
“Is it a story for grown-ups?”  
  
“Very much so.”  
  
She tentatively reached down to her clitoris.  
  
“Trust me,sweetheart, love of my life, my beautiful Lady of the Dragon. And we’ll begin.”  
  
He kissed her and guided her fingers to her clitoris.  
  
“We’re on holiday next year and it’s a beautiful day in July, about 20 degrees and there is a warm breeze blowing. We’ve hired a Discovery and we had a pleasant lunch at a local pub in Cornwall, or rather you have eaten a meal and pressed the side order of chips on me, complaining that I don‘t eat enough and I eat them to placate you. You are looking especially beautiful and I’m enjoying glancing at you as I drive and mindful that I have to help fulfil a particular desire that you have, as I only wish to make you happy.”  
  
Sherlock’s words were gliding round Minty’s head and his low seductive whisper in her ear, his breath and his lips brushing her earlobe made her close her eyes and circle her clitoris, Sherlock’s eyes fixed gimlet sharp on her circling movements, the light pressure, the darting of a finger inside.  
  
“We turn off the main road and up an unclassified road towards a patch of woodland that I have identified on an Ordinance Survey map that should be remote and suitable. All we can hear is the calling of birds and our car. You are flushed with excitement and your eyes are glowing, my dearest. You reach over to stroke my face as I drive and I tremble. Only you have this effect on me my love, only you.”  
  
Minty’s lips parted and Sherlock kissed her again which made him make a small growling sound in his throat, already absolutely hard. It was going to take a superhuman effort not to tear off his own clothes and lower his body onto hers. FOCUS.  
  
“We turn into a dirt track that leads into the forest and park up. There is absolutely no-one else around and it is perfectly secluded. I open the boot and grab my coat and also a travel blanket for added privacy. You run ahead at me, looking back, laughing and then you scamper off and I run after you. To our right I see a clearing through the trees, the ground is dry and the sunlight is filtering through the trees which are beech at the sides and pine further in.”  
  
He paused to watch Minty who was very flushed by now, fingertips glistening and then continued.  
  
“In the clearing I lay my coat on the ground, making sure that there is nothing that would jab into you. The air is heavy with the scent of ferns and pine and I watch you strip off and again I marvel at your wonderful body, so full of erotic possibilities. When you are naked I sink to my knees to quickly lick you as I utterly adore your primal scent and taste and can’t wait any longer - “  
  
Minty half opened her eyes, dragon filled and Sherlock charmed and looked at him. “I love you” she whispered.  
  
“I  love you too, my beautiful Araminta, so very much” he murmured.  
  
“And then I ask you to lie down and you stretch out on my coat, looking like an Modigliani nude, the soft light filtering through the trees onto your pale skin. Araminta, you are sounding extremely wet, how far off are you?”  
  
Minty whispered with a hoarsely lusty undertone. “I’m getting there but Christ, I’d listen to you all night. If you ran one of those dirty chat lines you would make a fortune. Do you want me to hurry up?”  
  
“Absolutely not. I am loving watching you. Men take their principal sexual stimuli from visual cues and women from erotica, and frankly the two together for me at the moment is overwhelming. I am doing my utmost to treat this as  normal empirical research but damn you Araminta, you are bewitching.”  
  
“Would you rather I was boring, big brother?”  
  
“I detest boring, I vastly prefer my stunning, seductive sister who is very nearly ready to climax. I wonder what will send you over the edge?”  
  
“Try me.”    
  
“Would you mind if I took over?”  
  
“Not at all.”  
  
Sherlock hovered above her, looking into her eyes. “I remind you that we married in a pagan ceremony on the feast of Yule and that I know about the Five Fold Kiss.”  
  
“And how on earth do you know about that?”  
  
“I agreed to be hand fasted and therefore my research on such matters was naturally meticulous.”  
  
“Oh, but of course.”  
  
“I start by kissing your mouth.”  
  
He kissed her softly but lingeringly, Minty’s hand reaching to cradle his head but he pulled away.  
  
“And then on each breast, right first.”  
  
He flicked at her right nipple with his tongue, sucking on it until Minty gasped and then the left, watching her eyes close and her mouth open, softly moaning.  
  
“And then I’m supposed to kiss your womb, but I think here would be far more enjoyable for both of us.”  
  
Here was between her legs. He delicately licked the right hand lip of her vulva which was very swollen, all the way up, Minty moaning “OH DON‘T STOP”. He then licked the left, just as slowly and deliberately so it would madden her. The tip of his tongue flicked at her clitoris and then he moved down to her right knee, then her left and then her right foot and then her left.  
  
“Just finish me off, please. I can’t stand it” she wailed.  
  
“How do you want me to do it?”  
  
“With your tongue. Then I’m going to unzip you and I’m going on top.”  
  
“Not with my fingers so I can put my observations into practice?”  
  
“No, you can do that at my Mum’s as agreed. Please….I need you.”  
  
“How much?” He was getting very aroused by this. He just loved that he could make this wonderful woman feel this way, that he had that power.  
  
“Sherlock, if you don’t lick me out in the next 30 seconds I might die.”  
  
“That would be impossible” he murmured but enthusiastically licked her until her gasps segued into a howl of I LOVE YOU. Which took 2 minutes.  
  
“You haven’t finished your story” she panted as he slowly looked up at her from between her thighs.  
  
“I will.” She sat up and and Sherlock let her unbutton his shirt between kisses and then pull down his trousers and boxers. She lowered herself down on him,  he was still half dressed and she still gasped as he filled her, as if it was the first time.  
  
“Minty…you still do that, you gasp with pleasure when I enter you…I was your first man and I am your last.”  
  
He was sitting up, kissing her and rising to meet her off the bed.  
  
“You’re the only man I‘ve ever truly loved…only you. I am your wife now, I belong to you.”  
  
Sherlock swept Minty’s hair out of her eyes. “We belong to each other, my Dragon Lady, I am your husband. And going back to  my story…we are in the woodland glade, alone, secluded together with our love. And we are coupled together exactly as we are and your dragon is coiled around us”  
  
Minty moaned a croon of satisfaction. “He made sure we found each other, I believed…oh I can’t get enough of you.”  
  
Sherlock feverishly kissed her breasts, neck, as much bare skin as he could reach, mind reeling with her…images slammed into his mind of the moment he sank inside her for the very first time…one late hot night when she sank to her knees in the dark to pleasure him…that first sight of her in the white wedding dress  as a woman not a girl and now…Minty dragging off his shirt and loudly urging him to fuck her harder and harder…where did she begin and he end…and the final white hot heat as he roared wordlessly, falling back onto the bed and Minty bending to whisper lasciviously “You are mine Sherlock and I will fuck you any time I want and any way I choose and you will not refuse me, you might be the show-off Consultant Detective with your Mind Palace but when we‘re alone, you belong to me.” He nodded, exhausted, compliant, biddable, _bound._  
  
Forward to Christmas morning.  
  
 **“SherlocksherlockwakeupdammitITSCHRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISTMAS!”**  
  
This was bellowed Noddy Holder of Slade style at the mound under the duvet where his head was. A hand appeared and pulled the duvet over his head tighter.  
  
“Araminta, piss off. I’m trying to sleep. Or I was.”  
  
“Awwww you’re BORING so you are. You can’t sleep, Santa’s been!”  
  
“Santa does not exist and is an Americanised construct based on a Turkish saint and you are too old for that sort of thing. Your Mum has put out our presents under the tree, you saw her.”  
  
Minty pouted as she sat cross legged beside the couch and then sat up, smirking.  
  
“Sherlock, I am going to count to three. If your head doesn’t appear after the third count, the cup of tea I am holding will be poured over your head.”  
  
“One…..”  
  
Nothing.  
  
“Two……”  
  
Nothing.  
  
“Three….”  
  
Sherlock’s head appeared from out of the duvet, scowling at Minty like a grumpy tortoise, who was holding the cup over his head.  
  
“You look so sexy when you’re angry, brother-husband. Happy Christmas, how can you not be excited about Christmas? It’s our first one together.”  
  
She had set the cup down on the floor and started to unwrap and eat chocolate coins. She unwrapped one and gently butted Sherlock’s lower lip until he opened his mouth and she popped it in. She was already dressed in a black Sophie Lancaster Foundation hoodie, blue jeans and her purple slipper boots, hair damp.  
  
He sat up, chewing, in a light red and white striped pyjama jacket. “You are mad. It’s too early to be this excited about anything but happy Christmas darling. I’ll have that cup of tea, please.”  
  
She handed it to him and he gulped it thirstily. “What time did you go to sleep?”  
  
“Two. I finished Mum’s drawing and it’s framed. I haven’t wrapped it yet, I wanted you to see it first before I do. I’m tired this morning but we’re together and that’s bloody marvellous as far as I’m concerned. I loved last night.”  
  
As soon as Helen had gone to bed at about 11pm, Sherlock and Minty had laughed, whispered and loved their way into Christmas morning, Sherlock triumphantly scoring 5 minutes and 13 seconds and determined to beat this, Minty murmuring “this gives another meaning to the Coming of the Lord, doesn’t it?” as she unzipped his black jeans and bent her head to the task.  
  
“I did too. Do you think we’ll ever tire of each other and behave like normal married couples after a few years?”  
  
“We’re actually not going to live together so that will keep it fresh, maybe. Plus, we’ve gone through too much to find each other again, we’re going to have to remind each other of that and not take each other for granted.”  
  
“Good idea. Can I see your drawing?”  
  
“Sure. Here you are.”  
  
Minty handed Sherlock an A2 sized picture frame of a pencil portrait of her and Sherlock based on a photo that Molly had taken after their hand fasting. It was a head and shoulders shot, Sherlock’s hand rested lightly on Minty’s left shoulder and both were smiling the Holmes half-smile into the camera, careful not to reveal too much emotion. The light hit Minty’s nose and lip piercings and Sherlock’s tousled hair perfectly, the pencil work showed consummate skill and their eyes glowed with undisguised happiness.  
  
“Minty, you’re so talented. You’ve managed to put across how we both felt without it making our true relationship clear, we look content and happy.”  
  
“Thanks and I’ve managed to make you look less like a maladjusted fucker than you usually are. You don’t have smug self-satisfied bastard as your default expression for once.”  
  
“Can I take back what I’ve just said, you really do have a caustic tongue.”  
  
“That’s not what you were saying last night. As I recall you were desperate for me - “  
  
“Shush, your Mum might hear. She’s up and about, she’s in the bathroom. Go and wrap it. No, wait.”  
  
“What’s up?”  
  
Minty, could you go into my coat pockets, please. You’ll find an envelope.”  
  
Minty went into the hall and found a letterbox shaped white envelope in Sherlock’s coat hanging up. She retrieved it and headed into the living room waving it.  
  
“Open it, darling. It’s your Christmas present, or rather one of them.”  
  
She opened it and drew out two Eurostar tickets.  
  
“Are we going somewhere nice?”  
  
“Absolutely. Read the other piece of paper.”  
  
Minty read them both and let out a whoop of delight, throwing herself on Sherlock.  
  
“You’re taking me to Paris! Oh my God! Thank you so much!”  
  
“You’re welcome. I wanted us to have some quality time away and I knew that the only thing you regretted about your wedding to Alan was not going to the Lourve. So, we have a long weekend at the start of February which is after your deadline for the book cover so you’ll be able to enjoy it.  Mr and Mrs Holmes are going to  Paris so that you can absorb all that art and I will accompany you, possibly being fairly bored by the end of it all but I imagine that you will keep me very well entertained in other ways. I confess that seeing you happy will be its own reward, it will feel a little like when we first met and we could do as we pleased.”  
  
“You’re not a bad old stick really. Underneath that smart-arse difficult exterior is an old romantic, who’d a thunk it? You didn’t have to, you’ve already helped Santa buy those New Rocks I wanted and that was more then enough.”  
  
Sherlock raised his eyebrows. “I couldn’t not buy them, considering you left post it notes with the Amazon reference number on my laptop, violin case, my coat, my pillow, my tea pot, the mirror in the bathroom?”  
  
“I haven’t got you anything quite as cool but I’ve put some thought into your presents. Another cup of tea? Mum will want to make pancakes for breakfast.”  
  
“Please, I’ll have that then I’ll get up and think about getting washed and dressed.”  
  
Minty went into the kitchen and was lost in reverie thinking about one particular present, an ink-blue shirt. Nothing extraordinary but for Minty it meant more than any trip to Paris or a pair of boots.  
  
 _Minty had gone into Edinburgh for a look around the shops and for a little bit of precious me-time, to clear her head. She had a row withn Alan that morning about anything and nothing and while it has been resolved, she was irritated and out of sorts. It was a Saturday afternoon and Minty got off the bus on Princes Street and browsed in HMV, Waterstones and then wandered up along George Street to look at the more upmarket shops there. She gradually felt less in knots and enjoyed the solace of being by herself which she didn’t experience enough for her liking.  
  
She walked past Thomas Pink, the shirt retailer and a men’s shirt in the window caught her eye. It was ink blue, nearly black and was the colour of a fountain pen scratching across fine note paper, of the night sky merging from the dying dusk to dawn and she stared at it. The dusk of nights in London loving like a whirlwind.  
  
“Oh that would look great on Sherlock!”  
  
She exclaimed aloud before she had a chance to stop herself and she clapped her hand to her mouth, waves of misery swept over her, so much so she knew she needed to get to somewhere private and safe - fast. She ran into the Starbuck’s nearby and ran up the stairs and bolted into a toilet cubicle, locking it and sitting down, tears pouring down her face that would not stop.  
  
SHERLOCK IS LONG GONE.  
  
She cried as quietly as she could, grieving all over again because she knew with a sickening gut feeling that she could be with Alan, care for him to some degree, live with him, sleep with him but her soul and mind would always be elsewhere with a man who still made her ache with sheer desire, who was her first love and frankly her last. Alan was a poor substitute as all the one night stands were.  
  
She raised her eyes to the ceiling and sobbed “Please, bring him back to me, please. I miss him so much and I love him…please. I need him. I miss him. I want him.”  
  
She was clutching her dragon pendant, hard.  
  
There was a knocking on the cubicle door, a young female Scottish voice. “Is everything alright in there?”  
  
“Sorry…I’m fine. Having a bad day.”  
  
“Okay, just checking.”  
  
The voice sounded relieved that she didn't have to assist and footsteps retreated, a door banging. Minty exhaled and grabbed some toilet roll to mop at her face. She unlocked the cubicle and ran the cold tap to soak some toilet roll to cool her face and eyes down. After she had dome this, she looked in the mirror and the haunted bleakness in her eyes made her sigh. She would have to pull herself together before she went home to Alan as she didn’t want him seeing her sp upset and asking awkward questions. She ordered a caramel macchiato with an extra shot and an apple and cinnamon muffin. The sugar and caffeine slowly made her feel more normal and she resolved to go home and forget what happened.  
  
She never did forget that shirt or that day._  
  
And later, as he unwrapped it and hugged Minty, saying that he was delighted and would wear it tomorrow for her she smiled a wistful smile at his pleasure.  
  
“Penny for them, darling?”  
  
Minty grinned. “I’ll tell you later, I do love you.”  
  
“And I love you, sweetheart. What present do you want me to open next?”  
  
“That one, there. If you’ve guessed what it is, for God’s sake don’t tell me.”

**  
**

**THE END**

 

**COMING SOON....**

  
**This Night has Opened My Eyes**

 

**Sherlock and Minty's adventures continue....**


End file.
